Courier Capital LLC Sells 179 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Courier Capital LLC lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $165.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $180.71 and its 200 day moving average is $157.27. The stock has a market cap of $119.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

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.