Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Sells 3,536 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,667 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,536 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BX. 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.06.

Blackstone Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $124.68 on Monday. 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 $115.24 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $90.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $156.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.20.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.