Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 403 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,568 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 403 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $140.46 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $167.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

About Blackstone

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.