Waldron Private Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 99.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,512 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for about 0.7% of Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $17,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 123.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 10,952 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 83.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 4,220 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 146,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,462,000 after buying an additional 10,504 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 7,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Single Point Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

Blackstone stock opened at $176.92 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $127.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

Blackstone 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.