Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 527,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 103,244 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $80,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $199.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $105.51 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a market cap of $143.71 billion, a PE ratio of 68.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.48.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

About Blackstone

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.