DAVENPORT & Co LLC Purchases 4,340 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 52,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,340 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $67,472,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,294.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 236,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,208,000 after acquiring an additional 234,917 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE BX opened at $176.92 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a PE ratio of 60.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.43.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

About Blackstone

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.