Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Sather Financial Group Inc

Sather Financial Group Inc decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Sather Financial Group Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,188.2% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 4,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 237,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,435,000 after acquiring an additional 9,668 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $164.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $177.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.98 billion, a PE ratio of 45.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.77%.

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.