Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Close Asset Management Ltd

Close Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 4.3% of Close Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Close Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.15% of Blackstone worth $194,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on BX shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore cut their price target on Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $174.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 1,146,789 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at $437,297,073.84. This trade represents a 7.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $117.87 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $111.04 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.14. The firm has a market cap of $87.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $1.49 dividend. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 153.61%.

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.