L & S Advisors Inc Buys 58,791 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

L & S Advisors Inc grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 441.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,116 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,791 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for about 1.2% of L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $35,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Blackstone from $176.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.76.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE BX opened at $133.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $148.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.14. 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 (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 385,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.96 per share, with a total value of $9,999,999.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,332,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. The trade was a 2.42% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.