Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,534 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 11,686 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 174,558 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,097,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 144.6% in the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 36,615 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,313,000 after purchasing an additional 21,645 shares during the last quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $19,477,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 36,461 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,664,000 after purchasing an additional 9,375 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $5.69 on Friday, hitting $158.21. 4,662,276 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,336,160. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $174.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 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.