Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 716,242 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,818 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.10% of Blackstone worth $66,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 40,375,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,546,613,000 after buying an additional 1,480,848 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Blackstone by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after buying an additional 798,734 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after buying an additional 332,962 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,081,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,216,151,000 after buying an additional 790,231 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $695,952,000 after purchasing an additional 522,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.35% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $104.96. 2,906,807 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,930,267. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $103.32 and its 200 day moving average is $97.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.47. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $71.72 and a one year high of $116.78.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). Blackstone had a net margin of 21.29% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 140.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 27th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 134.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. HSBC began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $113.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $110.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I/Ii Gp L. Blackstone sold 14,704,603 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total transaction of $117,342,731.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,943.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director William G. Parrett sold 3,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.47, for a total value of $435,708.78. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,479,934.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I/Ii Gp L. Blackstone sold 14,704,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total transaction of $117,342,731.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,943.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,812,942 shares of company stock worth $128,543,218 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Profile

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.