44 Wealth Management LLC Sells 77 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

44 Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $158.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $173.58 and a 200-day moving average of $165.48. The stock has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. 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 (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.