Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sather Financial Group Inc lifted its position in Blackstone by 202.5% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,343 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Blackstone from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $170.50.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of BX traded down $1.16 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $163.69. 1,243,799 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,480,671. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.88 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $180.73 and its 200-day moving average is $156.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.