Invesco Ltd. Has $1.03 Billion Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.83% of Blackstone worth $1,032,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.06.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $124.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.24 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $156.29 and its 200-day moving average is $167.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.