Ruth Porat Acquires 301 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $158.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.