Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 40.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 391,893 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 112,900 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $67,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank increased its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3 %

BX stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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 expect 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 issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 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.