Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $184.34 and last traded at $183.85, with a volume of 432279 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $181.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $131.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $159.65 and a 200 day moving average of $139.31.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after buying an additional 1,290,324 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted 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 worth $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $613,581,000 after acquiring an additional 21,450 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.