Insider Selling: Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Major Shareholder Sells 124,600 Shares of Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $2,043,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded down $3.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $114.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,076,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,119,742. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $133.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.95. The company has a market capitalization of $85.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $177.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Palladiem LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 99.1% in the 4th quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC now owns 221 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Wellington Altus USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, NBH Bank bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen research 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.71.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management and advisory services to institutions, corporations, and individual investors. The company invests across multiple asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, insurance solutions, and hedge fund solutions.

Its investment activities include acquiring and managing businesses, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, and credit investments.