Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 57.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Whalen Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,455,000 after buying an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,951,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 936.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 5,383 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $183.05 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.80. The company has a market capitalization of $132.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.90, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.39 and a twelve month high of $184.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.