Means Investment CO. Inc. Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Means Investment CO. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 202 shares during the period. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $176.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a PE ratio of 60.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $180.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.43. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.