AGF Management Ltd. Invests $740,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

AGF Management Ltd. bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,292 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $740,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth $245,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,388 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 55.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,469 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 136.4% during the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 24,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,744,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of BX opened at $141.01 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.84. The company has a market cap of $102.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.