Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Close Asset Management Ltd

Close Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 16,035.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,133,197 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises 4.3% of Close Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Close Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $194,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after buying an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,071,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Blackstone by 4.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $678,037,000 after acquiring an additional 202,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,200,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $628,265,000 after purchasing an additional 37,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $179.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Argus dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $117.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $144.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.14. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $111.04 and a 52-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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The business’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a $1.49 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 153.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 1,146,789 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.16 per share, with a total value of $30,000,000.24. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,716,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,297,073.84. This trade represents a 7.37% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone 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.