Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,611,895 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,443 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $277,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% during the third quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.4% during the third quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $174.50 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $125.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day moving average of $179.07 and a 200-day moving average of $163.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their target price on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.