Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,102,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 87,733 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.15% of Blackstone worth $137,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $290,514,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after buying an additional 1,873,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BX. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price target for the company. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $157.21 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $140.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $161.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Blackstone 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.