Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Buys 1,877 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 47.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,877 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BX shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. 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, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $151.29 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.69. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.68, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

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, 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%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.