SouthState Corp Acquires 38,400 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SouthState Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1,290.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,376 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,400 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,463,000 after buying an additional 3,236 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 329,139 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $50,401,000 after buying an additional 125,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sather Financial Group Inc lifted its position in Blackstone by 202.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 3.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $141.01 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s fifty day moving average is $165.90 and its 200 day moving average is $167.21.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value 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 represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.