Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC Has $811,000 Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,705 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $145.12 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $169.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.23. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98, a PEG 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 (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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.