Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 58,419 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in Blackstone by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 342,662 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $59,082,000 after purchasing an additional 23,986 shares during the last quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 43,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,472,000 after buying an additional 1,983 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $252,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $2,972,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE:BX opened at $170.11 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $178.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $163.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.86, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53.

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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Company 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.