Carret Asset Management LLC Has $5.05 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Carret Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,595 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 935 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,053,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after buying an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $654,292,000 after buying an additional 92,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $562,058,000 after buying an additional 106,251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $0.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.77. 2,021,222 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,696,255. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $118.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $88.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.73, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.