Forefront Wealth Management Inc. Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Forefront Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2,057.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,653,000 after purchasing an additional 805,604 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew 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 valued at $167,825,000 after purchasing an additional 512,165 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Blackstone by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,430,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $248,723,000 after purchasing an additional 483,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $148.65 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $163.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $108.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. 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 3.87%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 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.