Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Has $2.40 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 118.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,924 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,544 shares during the quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of BX opened at $151.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.69. The company has a market cap of $110.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. 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 released 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%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.