Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Crestwood Advisors Group LLC

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 501,977 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,992 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up 1.5% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $85,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Blackstone by 115.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after purchasing an additional 583,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Blackstone by 19.9% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,904,030 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,494,000 after buying an additional 482,528 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $129.93 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $95.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.49, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $149.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The firm’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $1.49 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $176.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.82.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value 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. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 385,208 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,332,883 shares in the company, valued at $424,001,642.68. This represents a 2.42% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.