UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Buys 8,887 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 24.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,887 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $316,257,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2,057.7% in the fourth 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 lifted its stake in Blackstone by 111.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $167,825,000 after buying an additional 512,165 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,430,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $248,723,000 after buying an additional 483,362 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day moving average is $167.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Blackstone Company 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.