Covenant Asset Management LLC Sells 904 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Covenant Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 904 shares during the quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 111.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,472,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $165.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $119.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.48, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $176.53 and its 200 day moving average is $164.11.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.