Maridea Wealth Management LLC Takes $747,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,333 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $747,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $631,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 948 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,006,000 after buying an additional 124,462 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,813,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 28,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,365,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $138.26 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $160.86 and its 200 day moving average is $167.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current 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 $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate 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.