M&T Bank Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

M&T Bank Corp cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 244,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,168 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $42,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 3,271 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,438 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,670,000 after buying an additional 3,762 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 109,720 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,801,000 after acquiring an additional 7,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.0% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $150.59 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.73 billion, a PE ratio of 41.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.94.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired 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 approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

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.