Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Increased by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 21.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,029 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,453 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. one8zero8 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,117,000. Choate Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 16,842 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,904,000 after purchasing an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $540,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 451,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $77,785,000 after purchasing an additional 121,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 15,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $148.72 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.04. The company has a market cap of $108.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.97, a PEG 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. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio 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.