Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.22.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $137.94 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $150.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.02. 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) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.