Traders Purchase High Volume of Blackstone Call Options (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 20,713 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 53% compared to the typical volume of 13,524 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX traded up $1.78 on Monday, reaching $139.89. The stock had a trading volume of 5,797,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,447,325. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $160.06 and a 200-day moving average of $167.67. The company has a market capitalization of $102.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

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.