Insider Buying: Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Purchases $49,619.85 in Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.5 %

NYSE:BX opened at $158.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.48. The firm has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth 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

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

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.