Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 87.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 166,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 77,537 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $25,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $181.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $130.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.32, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.79 and a 52 week high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.