Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,494 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $141.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $102.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.85, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.