1,550 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Bought by First Citizens Financial Corp

First Citizens Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $175.02. The company had a trading volume of 490,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,407,020. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $180.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.48. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.88 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $126.36 billion, a PE ratio of 60.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.