Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 37.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 451,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 121,998 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $77,785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 136.4% during the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 759 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 87.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 166,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,482,000 after buying an additional 77,537 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.3% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,359,000 after buying an additional 1,433 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 172,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,395,000 after buying an additional 9,007 shares during the period. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 23.6% during the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.3 %

BX opened at $141.01 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.