Vicus Capital Purchases New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,911 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. State Street Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $602,017,000 after acquiring an additional 61,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $525,375,000 after acquiring an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen investment 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.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE BX opened at $165.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.11. The stock has a market cap of $119.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Blackstone Company 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.