Creative Planning Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 237,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 9,668 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth $26,000. 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 Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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 1.5 %

NYSE BX opened at $172.36 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $147.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $123.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.59 and a 12 month high of $175.94.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.38.

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.