Larson Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,759 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 51.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,759 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 200,388 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,685,000 after purchasing an additional 4,430 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.4% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,238,000. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered 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. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.0 %

Blackstone stock opened at $193.12 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $105.51 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $139.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $166.63 and a 200-day moving average of $143.28.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 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 given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

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.