Augustine Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Augustine Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 134.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,954 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,418 shares during the period. Augustine Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $167,825,000 after buying an additional 512,165 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $67,472,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $164.80 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $177.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $118.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.40, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 3.50%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 94.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.