Naples Global Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Naples Global Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,423 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 675 shares during the quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake 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. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $160.90 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $177.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.16. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $116.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.33, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 94.77%.

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.