Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped 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, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $165.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $176.53 and its 200-day moving average is $164.11. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $119.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.