Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 87,733 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,102,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 87,733 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $137,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $786,000. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $477,000. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 21,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,773,000 after acquiring an additional 2,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Somerset Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Somerset Group LLC now owns 28,487 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,730,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.6 %

Blackstone stock opened at $157.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $112.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.55, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.59 and a 12 month high of $161.25.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.78.

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.