Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 521 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,714 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 214.2% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $139,302,000 after acquiring an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $123,508,000 after buying an additional 5,951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $144.81 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. 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 company has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $161.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.38.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 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.