Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes 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 valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of 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. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $140.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $167.34 and a 200-day moving average of $167.06. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company 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. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.