Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Empire Financial Management Company LLC

Empire Financial Management Company LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,370 shares during the quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.7% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10,827.3% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $230,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 7,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $881,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Door Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the second quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,340 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,394,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $189.56 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $173.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.64. The stock has a market cap of $136.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.14, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $112.09 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.25.

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.