Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Dearborn Partners LLC

Dearborn Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,668 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 514 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 936.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 5,383 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $557,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $1,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $181.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.83 billion, a PE ratio of 62.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $102.59 and a 1-year high of $184.34. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 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.