Summit Global Investments Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Summit Global Investments lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,696 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,464,000 after purchasing an additional 113,732 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 116,367 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,006,000 after buying an additional 124,462 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $152.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $163.26 and a 200-day moving average of $167.59. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

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.