Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 7,716 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 354,219 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 7,716 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $61,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 214.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during 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. increased its holdings 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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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised Blackstone from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $157.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $127.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,805,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,690,525. The company's fifty day moving average is $149.11 and its 200-day moving average is $165.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization 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 quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. 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. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

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.