Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys New Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 24,056 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,148,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $233,000. Drive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $214,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 58.1% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,734 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 57.8% in the third quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vertex Planning Partners LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $338,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $146.11 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. 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 stock has a market cap of $106.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average of $164.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.29.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.94%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

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.