Capital Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,942 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE BX opened at $172.36 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.59 and a 12 month high of $175.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $147.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.27. The stock has a market cap of $123.18 billion, a PE ratio of 60.90, a PEG ratio of 1.24 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.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BX. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.41.

Blackstone Company 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.