Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 40.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,609 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,597 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position 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 worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $2,102,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $145.12 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $104.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98, a price-to-earnings-growth 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’s fifty day moving average is $169.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

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.