Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 7.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,392,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 101,362 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $208,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,565,415 shares of company stock worth $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

Blackstone stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

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.