Jennison Associates LLC Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 111.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 512,165 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $167,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after buying an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $602,017,000 after acquiring an additional 61,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after acquiring an additional 116,367 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $176.92 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $180.15 and its 200 day moving average is $162.63. 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 $127.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Blackstone Company 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.