Summit Global Investments Purchases New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Summit Global Investments bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,763 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $121.21 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.05 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $125.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.25. The stock has a market cap of $86.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.83, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.