GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,992 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its holdings in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $175.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $127.01 billion, a PE ratio of 60.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.88 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company 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.