Seven Mile Advisory Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 41.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,115 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 917 shares during the quarter. Seven Mile Advisory’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 2,057.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,653,000 after purchasing an additional 805,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 1,984,892 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,235,000 after acquiring an additional 753,766 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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, TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $138.26 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $160.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. 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 4.17%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 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.