Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Empower Advisory Group LLC

Empower Advisory Group LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,079 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $531,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BX. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $602,017,000 after purchasing an additional 61,739 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after purchasing an additional 116,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.0 %

BX opened at $166.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $174.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.04. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month 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. The firm has a market cap of $120.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone 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.