Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,764 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2,057.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,653,000 after acquiring an additional 805,604 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 111.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $67,472,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of BX opened at $150.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 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 50 day moving average is $170.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.94. The firm has a market cap of $108.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.49, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.