Metis Global Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,607 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,404 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Blackstone by 7.7% in the first quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 2,226 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 119.5% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,714 shares in the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 157.9% during the 1st quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 4,462 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callahan Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $227,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James Breyer acquired 13,900 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 2,565,415 shares of company stock valued at $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares valued at $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

Blackstone stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $107.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $165.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Blackstone Company 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.