Great Lakes Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,754 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $367,000. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 12,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,166,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 92,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,893,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Summit X LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $270,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 55,898 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,638,000 after buying an additional 1,312 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $141.01 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Equities analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. 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. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.