Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Sold by Douglas Lane & Associates LLC

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 605,982 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,854 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned 0.08% of Blackstone worth $67,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $6,112,162,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after acquiring an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $605,267,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $519,859,000 after buying an additional 333,798 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX traded up $2.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,649,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,064,584. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $166.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $86.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $131.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,392.80. The trade was a 99.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 1,038,406 shares of company stock valued at $27,205,951 and sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Argus increased their price objective on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.32.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment solutions to institutional investors, companies, financial advisers and individual investors. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the company has developed a broad platform spanning private markets and other alternative investments.

Blackstone’s businesses include private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, secondaries and hedge fund solutions. Its investment activities may involve acquiring and managing companies, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, private credit and other investments on behalf of its clients.

The firm serves clients and invests across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.