Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 25.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,445 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,536 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,316,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 100,664 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,224,000 after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 29.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 246,998 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,823,000 after acquiring an additional 56,559 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Consulting Group acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Wills Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,866 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $187.00 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $135.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.26, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $172.43 and a 200-day moving average of $147.20. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $111.70 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone 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 directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.