Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.16 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,591 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after buying an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Blackstone by 213.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $184.87 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $163.11 and its 200-day moving average is $141.27. The company has a market capitalization of $133.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.53, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.39 and a 12 month high of $186.32. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone 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.