51,697 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Purchased by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 51,697 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,832,000. Blackstone accounts for approximately 1.0% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Investors Research Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 385,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the purchase, the insider owned 16,332,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. This represents a 2.42% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders bought 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $158.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $117.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $160.30.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.