Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Sees Unusually High Put Option Buying

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 60,301 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 199% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,158 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Blackstone from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Argus upped their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,392.80. The trade was a 99.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 464,792 shares of company stock valued at $12,205,945 and have sold 4,047,276 shares valued at $33,507,144. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $605,267,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $514,736,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $270,380,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $119.71. 4,231,855 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,078,072. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.69. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $165.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.16% and a net margin of 22.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 2nd will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This is a drop from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 2nd. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.56%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients.

Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.