Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Sells 218 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,012 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $602,017,000 after purchasing an additional 61,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $525,375,000 after buying an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3 %

BX stock opened at $160.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $115.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $177.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.14. 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 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS 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 issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.77%.

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.