HM Payson & Co. Trims Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

HM Payson & Co. reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,445 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 588 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $316,257,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2,057.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,653,000 after buying an additional 805,604 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 111.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,472,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position 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 worth $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $145.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share 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 forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.