Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd Invests $1.65 Million in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,574 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,651,000. Blackstone makes up 0.7% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,901,000 after acquiring an additional 18,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $169.56.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $3.50 on Tuesday, reaching $169.27. The company had a trading volume of 2,686,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,775,375. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.21 billion, a PE ratio of 58.17, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.88 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $180.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.27.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

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.