Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 5,719 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,719 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $131.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $151.61 and a 200 day moving average of $159.15. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a $1.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 132.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $195.00 price objective on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Argus lowered their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.77.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.