Good Life Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Good Life Advisors LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 832 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 327.1% during the 3rd quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 252 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.53.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $3.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $130.96. 2,145,863 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,821,166. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $79.29 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a market capitalization of $93.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $125.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 205.46%.

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.