Holderness Investments Co. Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Holderness Investments Co. grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 27,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 1.0% of Holderness Investments Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMG National Trust Bank bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $233,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 58.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,734 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,591 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE BX opened at $149.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $109.19 billion, a PE ratio of 41.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders 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 is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. 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.