Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lowered its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,257 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its holdings in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $2,102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $163.83 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.13, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.03.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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 report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.