Kestra Investment Management LLC Invests $66,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 385 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen equities 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $158.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $173.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. 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 3.64%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

Insider Activity

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

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.