MONECO Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,056 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.5 %

Blackstone stock opened at $158.21 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $173.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.74. 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 company has a market capitalization of $114.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. 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. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus 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.