Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires 79 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, 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, March 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $138.26 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.72. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.