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

Holderness Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 379 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 1.0% of Holderness Investments Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 321,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $88,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Blackstone by 1,283.0% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 66,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,410,000 after acquiring an additional 61,390 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 96,629 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,661,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,807 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve equities 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.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $149.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $109.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.24, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.16. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities 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. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

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.