Norway Savings Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Norway Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 1.3% of Norway Savings Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 250,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,970,000 after purchasing an additional 20,174 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 42,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 19,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 2,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BX. 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $3.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $171.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,727,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,964,951. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.66. The company has a market capitalization of $123.64 billion, a PE ratio of 58.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.