Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires 7,574 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,574 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 111.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth approximately $67,472,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after buying an additional 336,308 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $165.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $119.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $176.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.28. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.