Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,668 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,668 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $568,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $124.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.40 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $122.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.05, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.