Vertex Planning Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 31.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,898 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $139,302,000 after acquiring an additional 51,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $123,508,000 after buying an additional 5,951 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $144.81 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $161.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.38. The firm has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.