Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Stock Position Lowered by Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up 0.8% of Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $17,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Blackstone by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 19,048.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 213.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after purchasing an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.41.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE BX opened at $172.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $175.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $147.01 and a 200-day moving average of $133.22.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.