SlateStone Wealth LLC Buys 250 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $697,464,000 after acquiring an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $525,375,000 after acquiring an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,006,000 after acquiring an additional 124,462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $141.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $102.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased 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 $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

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.