Kingfisher Capital LLC Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kingfisher Capital LLC lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,268 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up 1.2% of Kingfisher Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Kingfisher Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $189.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.63 and a 200 day moving average of $144.38. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.00 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.96, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BX. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

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.