Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 103,562 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $17,818,000. Blackstone comprises about 1.5% of Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during 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 raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after buying an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $974,448,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,464,000 after buying an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased 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 directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3 %

BX stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.38. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective 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 report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Twelve 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 an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

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.