Norges Bank Makes New $974.45 Million Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,651,597 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $974,448,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.78% of Blackstone as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $262,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,352,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $233,187,000 after buying an additional 17,828 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $566,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 41,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,202,000 after purchasing an additional 9,954 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.38. The company has a market capitalization of $105.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. 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 payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

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.