Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $111.03 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 649,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 86,796 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $111,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after acquiring an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after buying an additional 919,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Blackstone by 115.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after acquiring an additional 583,384 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $162.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.82 billion, a PE ratio of 46.36, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average is $148.87 and its 200-day moving average is $160.63. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. 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 3.2%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. The trade was a 2.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased a total of 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.95.

Blackstone 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.