ING Groep NV Has $5.63 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

ING Groep NV trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,631 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,663 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. First Bank & Trust increased its stake in Blackstone by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,690 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Blackstone by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 266,414 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $45,935,000 after purchasing an additional 39,542 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance increased its stake in Blackstone by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,187 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMG Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,636,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $158.21 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.23. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $114.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. 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 (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. 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 3.64%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.