Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Acquires New Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 191 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $697,464,000 after purchasing an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $525,375,000 after buying an additional 116,367 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.38.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.