L & S Advisors Inc Acquires Shares of 4,150 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

L & S Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $631,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,006,000 after buying an additional 124,462 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 8.7% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,813,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.1% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 28,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,365,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 52.0% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $138.26 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.09, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.