Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,043 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the second quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $423,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.92 per share, for a total transaction of $47,602.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 39,077 shares in the company, valued at $5,741,192.84. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $157.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.97. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.89.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.