Stokes Family Office LLC Invests $598,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,468 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Ion Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 25,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,466,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 166,554 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,717,000 after purchasing an additional 6,249 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,480 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,148,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 12,587 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,152,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $146.11 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.29. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. 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 market cap of $106.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.25, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio 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.