Northcape Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,322 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Northcape Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,322 shares during the quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,922,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $252,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $353,000. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in Blackstone by 15.0% during the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 30,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,944,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $181.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.79 and a twelve month high of $184.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $161.40 and a 200-day moving average of $140.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS 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 dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

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.