J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,414 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,414 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the director now 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 is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $158.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.74. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price 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. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.