HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Has $2.79 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 857 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $139.89 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $102.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.54, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. Blackstone’s dividend 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.