Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 10,971 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,971 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Blackstone by 8.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 218,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,709,000 after purchasing an additional 16,170 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 6.2% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 35,096 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 154,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,314,000 after acquiring an additional 7,915 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12.0% during the first quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 10,658 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 100.8% during the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 519 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 equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 approximately $120,610,146.69. This 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.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $1.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $182.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 200,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,412,692. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $158.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.01. The firm has a market cap of $131.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $100.78 and a one year high of $183.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.