Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 28.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,613 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,878 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,419,249,000 after buying an additional 332,962 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after buying an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 7.1% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE BX opened at $130.96 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $125.32 and its 200 day moving average is $115.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.59 billion, a PE ratio of 71.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.29 and a twelve month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.53.

Blackstone 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.