Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 30.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $631,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,006,000 after buying an additional 124,462 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.7% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in Blackstone by 1.1% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 28,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,365,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 138,934 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $21,275,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares in the last quarter. 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of BX opened at $138.26 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a PE ratio of 38.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

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.