Trek Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Trek Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $849,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd raised its position in Blackstone by 556.2% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 8,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 7,475 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 354,219 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,065,000 after purchasing an additional 7,716 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 476,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $82,109,000 after purchasing an additional 13,555 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 6.3 %

BX stock opened at $124.68 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.24 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $90.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company’s 50 day moving average is $156.29 and its 200 day moving average is $167.20.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

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.