Balboa Wealth Partners Raises Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,208 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2,057.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 844,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $145,653,000 after acquiring an additional 805,604 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 512,165 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 483,362 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $67,472,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $140.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $102.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.06. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.