Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Invests $213,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $170,345,000 after buying an additional 937,084 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 468.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after buying an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $67,472,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 7,917.6% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 400,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,520,000 after purchasing an additional 395,011 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.56.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.4 %

BX stock opened at $175.12 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.59. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.88 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.44 billion, a PE ratio of 60.18, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

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.