Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stake Raised by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 60.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,480 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 950,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,560,000 after acquiring an additional 47,607 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $232,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 53,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,178,000 after acquiring an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $339,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

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, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $148.65 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.28. 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 one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $108.43 billion, a PE ratio of 40.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given 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 3.87%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s 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.