Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 17,828 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,352,435 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 17,828 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.19% of Blackstone worth $233,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,257,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th 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. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,057.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $145,653,000 after buying an additional 805,604 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $167,825,000 after buying an additional 512,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Blackstone by 51.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,430,555 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $248,723,000 after acquiring an additional 483,362 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $137.78. 2,022,678 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,432,516. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company's 50 day moving average is $160.86 and its 200 day moving average is $167.72.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone's payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $171.13.

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.