Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 383,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,928 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.05% of Blackstone worth $64,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.50.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $124.37 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $155.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.95. The firm has a market cap of $90.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Blackstone

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.