Shepherd Financial Partners LLC Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 30,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 0.6% of Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd 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. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $67,472,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 348,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $170.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.86, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $178.78 and a 200-day moving average of $163.28.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s 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.