Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys 66,759 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 316.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 87,822 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,759 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up 1.0% of Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $158.21 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $173.58 and a 200-day moving average of $165.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 3.64%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on BX. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

About Blackstone

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.