Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Ithaka Group LLC

Ithaka Group LLC decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 92,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 805 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for 2.7% of Ithaka Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $14,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $1,951,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 936.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $783,000 after buying an additional 5,383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of 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 increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Trading Up 5.0 %

NYSE BX opened at $194.21 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $105.51 and a one year high of $194.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $164.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.74, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.