Bleakley Financial Group LLC Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,281 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.79.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $155.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.74, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $170.54 and a 200 day moving average of $155.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

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.