Bank of New Hampshire Reduces Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bank of New Hampshire reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 635 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $83,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $123.36. The stock had a trading volume of 3,568,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,694,646. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $126.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.24. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.86%.

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.