Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 403 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,568 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,591,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $243,699,000 after buying an additional 24,199 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,882 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $901,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,012 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,218,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 29.2% during the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $140.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.06. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BX. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.