Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $8.18 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BX. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE BX opened at $199.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.40, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $165.86 and its 200-day moving average is $142.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $105.51 and a one year high of $199.95.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

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.