Howard Financial Services LTD. Takes $212,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Howard Financial Services LTD. bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,387 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position 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 worth $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake 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 during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $290,514,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,324 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.06.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $148.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $161.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.77 billion, a PE ratio of 52.81, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.90%.

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.