Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,981 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position 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 buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $145.12 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $105.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.23. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities research analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.