Cullen Investment Group LTD. Invests $887,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,774 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $887,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 56.1% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.2% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 8,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 10.4% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 18,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 12.8% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 38,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 4,366 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired 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 approximately $4,349,313. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $121.18 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $86.60 billion, a PE ratio of 66.22, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 205.46%.

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.