Kathmere Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bangor Savings Bank increased its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. StockNews.com raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.56.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $169.27 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.17, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $180.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.