Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by FORA Capital LLC

FORA Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 42.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 32,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24,222 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.84.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the purchase, the director owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,741,192.84. This represents a 0.84% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired 2,950,751 shares of company stock worth $79,050,138 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $151.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $111.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $150.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.67. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $192.17.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

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.