Plato Investment Management Ltd Boosts Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 88.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,530 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,877 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,281 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 346,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $58,337,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 733.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,343,000 after buying an additional 12,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 259.8% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 22,160 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,315,000 after acquiring an additional 16,001 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 385,208 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the purchase, the insider owned 16,332,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. The trade was a 2.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders bought 770,078 shares of company stock worth $20,058,800. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $129.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.57. The company has a market capitalization of $95.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a $1.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 132.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $164.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $171.00 target price on Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.77.

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.