Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC cut its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,837,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 143,912 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 1.5% of CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $841,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after buying an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $974,448,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,464,000 after buying an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.3 %

BX opened at $138.26 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average of $160.86 and a 200-day moving average of $167.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.