Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Has $2.05 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 58.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,734 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $4,083,000. Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 170.1% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 81,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,443,000 after buying an additional 51,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $148.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $108.48 billion, a PE ratio of 40.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $163.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.04.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.