Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,057 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 50.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 144,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,170,000 after purchasing an additional 48,601 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 4,949 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in Blackstone by 27.1% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,911 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,147,000 after purchasing an additional 8,749 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.8 %

BX stock opened at $163.83 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. 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 has a market capitalization of $118.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $174.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.03.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly 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, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 yield of 3.52%. 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 presently 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.