O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Purchases 15,818 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 21.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 88,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,818 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 214.2% during the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $138.26 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $160.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.72. The company has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.09, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. 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 4.17%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Blackstone 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.