Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Acquires New Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,228 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank grew its position in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.0 %

BX opened at $173.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $125.30 billion, a PE ratio of 47.81, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50 day moving average of $180.15 and a 200-day moving average of $162.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. 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 issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 94.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BX shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.