Lido Advisors LLC Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Lido Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 114,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,599 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $19,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,746,000 after buying an additional 1,133,197 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $568,902,000 after acquiring an additional 919,773 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 115.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after purchasing an additional 583,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $107.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.80. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.83.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $1.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 153.61%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 1,146,789 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,297,073.84. The trade was a 7.37% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $174.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.86.

About Blackstone

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.