Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,941 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stokes Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $598,000. Compass Ion Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 25,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,466,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 166,554 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,717,000 after buying an additional 6,249 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,138,000 after buying an additional 2,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $4,148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE BX opened at $146.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.25, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The business’s 50-day moving average is $164.85 and its 200 day moving average is $167.29.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.