Terra Nova Asset Management LLC Sells 535 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Terra Nova Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 535 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up 1.9% of Terra Nova Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after buying an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 7.1% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.4 %

Blackstone stock opened at $131.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.29 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The firm has a market cap of $93.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.79, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.00.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 205.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer downgraded Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.53.

Blackstone Company 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.