Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 140,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth 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 Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.9 %

Blackstone stock opened at $152.08 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $109.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $170.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.84.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results 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%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

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.