Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Increased by Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC

Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.22.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $7.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $129.70. 2,037,105 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,644,186. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.91 and a 200 day moving average of $166.02. 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 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $94.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 4.44%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.