Advisory Services Network LLC Acquires 12,677 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 26.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,243 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 12,677 shares during the quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $139,302,000 after buying an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

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Blackstone Stock Down 0.2 %

Blackstone stock traded down $0.26 on Friday, hitting $127.19. 7,805,964 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,690,525. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $149.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.63. The firm has a market cap of $92.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. 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 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. 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 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.22.

Blackstone 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.