Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 29.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 90,537 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,849 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $174.99 on Thursday. 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 fifty day moving average of $179.34 and a 200 day moving average of $163.11. The company has a market capitalization of $126.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (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 anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Bank of America increased their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

About Blackstone

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.