Cidel Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.26.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $160.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 43.16, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.