Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Sanders Morris Harris LLC

Sanders Morris Harris LLC lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 93,487 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 28,461 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.4% of Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Altus USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. NBH Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 26,600.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised Blackstone from a “market outperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 771,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,523,956.20. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,392.80. This represents a 99.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,038,406 shares of company stock valued at $27,205,951 and sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $3.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $106.09. 7,582,814 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,064,601. The company has a market cap of $79.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.27. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $166.39.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment solutions to institutional investors, companies, financial advisers and individual investors. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the company has developed a broad platform spanning private markets and other alternative investments.

Blackstone’s businesses include private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, secondaries and hedge fund solutions. Its investment activities may involve acquiring and managing companies, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, private credit and other investments on behalf of its clients.

The firm serves clients and invests across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.