DnB Asset Management AS Increases Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

DnB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,927 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 11,445 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS's holdings in Blackstone were worth $45,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $631,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 948 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 124,462 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.7% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,813,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 21.7% in the third quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 3,740 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock traded up $1.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $141.73. 1,166,169 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,438,711. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.38 billion, a PE ratio of 39.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $160.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.67.

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Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders 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 is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $171.13.

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.