GWN Securities Inc. Takes $565,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GWN Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $141.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $102.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.21. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.