Fred Alger Management LLC Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 261.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 209,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 151,483 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $32,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 15.8% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,266,000 after buying an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $750,000. Park Place Capital Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1,059.6% in the second quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,693 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $658,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Blackstone by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,302 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $191.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $169.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.86. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $110.77 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $137.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. 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 is presently 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.