Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,110 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bangor Savings Bank grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $145.12 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $105.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $169.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.23. 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 posted 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought 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 owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.