15,427 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Bought by Optimist Retirement Group LLC

Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 15,427 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,729,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $605,267,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,520,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $519,859,000 after buying an additional 333,798 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,353,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $512,250,000 after buying an additional 52,755 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $128.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Piper Sandler set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.57.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This trade represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,523,956.20. The trade was a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders bought 464,792 shares of company stock worth $12,205,945 and sold 4,047,276 shares worth $33,507,144. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $125.61 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $121.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $94.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $165.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Blackstone had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 23.16%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 2nd will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. This is a negative change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.56%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.