Cooper Financial Group Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $986,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bangor Savings Bank grew 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 during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 57.7% during the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $165.70 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $180.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $119.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.88 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

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.