Capital Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,136 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc raised its stake in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after acquiring an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,343 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $165.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $119.64 billion, a PE ratio of 56.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.27. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.88 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.50.

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.