Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) by 35.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,255 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 133.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 62.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $69.50 to $69.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. CICC Research initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, January 12th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.33.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.7 %

NYSE BX opened at $84.89 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $71.72 and a one year high of $132.93. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $89.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.82, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The asset manager reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.12. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 19.43%. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 6th were given a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 153.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $92.61 per share, with a total value of $25,652.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,111.11. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 205,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total transaction of $6,781,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,844,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $324,859,524. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $92.61 per share, with a total value of $25,652.97. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,111.11. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 140,532,616 shares of company stock valued at $1,726,902,967 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Profile

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Blackstone, Inc engages in the provision of investment and fund management services. It operates through the following segments: Real Estate, Private Equity, Credit and Insurance, and Hedge Fund Solutions. The Real Estate segment includes management of opportunistic real estate funds, Core+ real estate funds, high-yield real estate debt funds, and liquid real estate debt funds.