Capital International Sarl Acquires 9,135 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Capital International Sarl increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 167,796 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 9,135 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl's holdings in Blackstone were worth $28,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 of the company's stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $153.72.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.0 %

BX stock traded up $2.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.40. The company had a trading volume of 2,690,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,726,112. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.45. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $92.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend 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.