Absolute Capital Management LLC Buys 635 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Holderness Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 27,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,678,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in Blackstone by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 321,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $88,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Blackstone by 1,283.0% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 66,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,410,000 after purchasing an additional 61,390 shares during the period. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank raised its position in Blackstone by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 96,629 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,661,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $148.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $163.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.04. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $108.48 billion, a PE ratio of 40.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

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.