WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 3,354 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,772 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,354 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co's holdings in Blackstone were worth $21,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Center for Financial Planning Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 770 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $330,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1,629.2% in the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 31,472 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,426,000 after buying an additional 29,652 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp increased its position in Blackstone by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,841 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $166.81. 3,162,580 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,299,386. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock's fifty day moving average is $175.23 and its 200-day moving average is $165.03. The stock has a market cap of $120.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

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 for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. 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.