Jacobi Capital Management LLC Has $1.56 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Jacobi Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 82 shares during the quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given 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 $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased 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 $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.3 %

BX stock opened at $161.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.46. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. 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 company has a market cap of $116.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.