Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Douglas Lane & Associates LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 8.0% during the second quarter, selling 56,289 shares and now owning 647,748 shares worth approximately $96.89 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets on Blackstone, with Deutsche Bank and Evercore ISI now suggesting prices of $192.00 and $197.00 respectively.
• Blackstone increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, representing an annualized payout of $4.12 and a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 8.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 647,748 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 56,289 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up 1.4% of Douglas Lane & Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned about 0.09% of Blackstone worth $96,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Park National Corp OH raised its stake in Blackstone by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 2,334 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $181.44 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $170.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Blackstone Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.