KCM Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 10,641 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 201,758 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 10,641 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.2% of KCM Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. KCM Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $34,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $157.22.

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Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $10.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $127.07. 3,933,559 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,651,416. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $150.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $166.02. The firm has a market cap of $92.69 billion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its 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%. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.