Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 65 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $170.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $122.82 billion, a PE ratio of 46.86, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $178.36 and a 200 day moving average of $163.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

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.