Fairfield Bush & CO. Sells 315 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Fairfield Bush & CO. lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 315 shares during the quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.0 %

BX opened at $129.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $94.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.68, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company’s 50 day moving average is $146.58 and its 200-day moving average is $165.07. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Blackstone Company 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.