Summit Global Investments Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Summit Global Investments grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,696 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $697,464,000 after acquiring an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the third 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 valued at $525,375,000 after purchasing an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,006,000 after purchasing an additional 124,462 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:BX opened at $152.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $163.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.59. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Sell-side 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.