APG Asset Management N.V. Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 393,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $65,588,000. APG Asset Management N.V. owned about 0.05% of Blackstone at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $974,448,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,464,000 after purchasing an additional 113,732 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $124.37 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $155.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $90.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BX. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Barclays decreased their target price on Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.50.

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.