Blackstone Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BX)

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,637,266,000 after acquiring an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $139.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap 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 one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $160.06 and its 200-day moving average is $167.67.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.