Bank of New York Mellon Corp Trims Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,378,627 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,517 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.61% of Blackstone worth $754,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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 target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1 %

BX stock opened at $157.22 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $113.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.31, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.12.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 3.66%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.