Personal CFO Solutions LLC Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,474 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 845 shares during the quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $145.12 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.23. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.98, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 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 return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.