Kimelman & Baird LLC Sells 7,314 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kimelman & Baird LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 320,103 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 7,314 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up 4.4% of Kimelman & Baird LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Kimelman & Baird LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $55,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 15,283 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 29,269 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,047,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1,290.3% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 41,376 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,134,000 after buying an additional 38,400 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 4,338 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $565,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $4.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $150.74. 2,159,432 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,254,974. The stock has a market cap of $109.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.42, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $164.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.29. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

About Blackstone

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.