Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 5,459 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Wedbush Securities Inc. cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,138 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,459 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $316,257,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2,057.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $145,653,000 after buying an additional 805,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its position in Blackstone by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 1,984,892 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $342,235,000 after acquiring an additional 753,766 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised Blackstone from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.22.

Blackstone Stock Down 6.0 %

Shares of BX traded down $8.29 on Thursday, hitting $129.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,332,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,657,474. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $150.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.02. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone's dividend 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.