Guinness Asset Management LTD Buys 1,422 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 41.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,887 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,422 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE BX opened at $180.00 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.63 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $129.96 billion, a PE ratio of 61.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.