Ballast Advisors LLC Sells 836 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ballast Advisors LLC decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,346 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 836 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 0.9% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake 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 valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $613,581,000 after purchasing an additional 21,450 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX traded up $6.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $176.42. The stock had a trading volume of 155,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,406,150. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $127.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $154.97 and a 200 day moving average of $137.05. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.15 and a 1 year high of $176.63.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.38.

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.