Friedenthal Financial Purchases New Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,353 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $915,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 11.7% in the third quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 6,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,092,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 228,859 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,101,000 after buying an additional 2,506 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $248,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 4.9% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 57,474 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,819,000 after acquiring an additional 2,707 shares during the period. Finally, Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4%

Blackstone stock opened at $155.20 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $149.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.01 per share, for a total transaction of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.