Blackstone Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 20,972 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the average daily volume of 14,886 put options.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 384,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.01 per share, for a total transaction of $10,000,012.68. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 15,116 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus decreased their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group set a $171.00 price objective on Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $174.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.76.

Blackstone Stock Down 5.4%

Blackstone stock traded down $7.21 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $125.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,709,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,657,203. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.14. The company has a market cap of $92.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company’s revenue was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.