KBC Group NV Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 87.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 77,537 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $25,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $181.36 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $160.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $130.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $102.79 and a one year high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

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.