Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 99.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,282 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,171,868 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Fourteen 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $170.86. 332,898 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,827,763. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.62 and a 200 day moving average of $156.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.88 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

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.