2,013 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Purchased by Forefront Wealth Management Inc.

Forefront Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $148.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $163.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.