Mizuho Securities USA LLC Buys 21,737 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 46.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,737 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased 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 $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $148.65 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $108.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.53 and a 200 day moving average of $167.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. Blackstone’s 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.