Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 936.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 5,383 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $557,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $181.21 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.59 and a 12 month high of $184.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.