Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by RiverFront Investment Group LLC

RiverFront Investment Group LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 197 shares during the quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $138.26 on Friday. 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 $100.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $160.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.37.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date 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.