Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 23,986 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 342,662 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,986 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 0.8% of Stephens Inc. AR’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $59,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $170.11 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.48. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $122.82 billion, a PE ratio of 46.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 94.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.