GWN Securities Inc. Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 23.6% during the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 55.8% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,463,000 after buying an additional 3,236 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 61.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 329,139 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,401,000 after buying an additional 125,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sather Financial Group Inc lifted its position in Blackstone by 202.5% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $141.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $102.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.21. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. 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 (NYSE:BX) last posted 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Blackstone 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.