Principle Wealth Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,157 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its position in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth about $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 214.2% in the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.0 %

Blackstone stock opened at $168.52 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $121.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.42, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.