Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC Invests $230,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $199.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $143.71 billion, a PE ratio of 68.40, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $105.51 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $165.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm 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%. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.