Verity Asset Management Inc. Makes New $599,000 Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Verity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $605,267,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,520,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $519,859,000 after purchasing an additional 333,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,353,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $512,250,000 after purchasing an additional 52,755 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $125.61 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $94.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $121.32 and a 200 day moving average of $123.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $165.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 2nd. This is a negative change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 99.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,392.80. This trade represents a 99.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Piper Sandler set a $126.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.57.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.