Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Director Sells $12,380,000.00 in Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

BX stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $125.00. 5,998,605 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,160,321. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $134.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.82 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $189.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.43.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,112,162,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,364,373,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,275,747,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Blackstone by 99.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,178,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management and advisory services to institutions, corporations, and individual investors. The company invests across multiple asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, insurance solutions, and hedge fund solutions.

Its investment activities include acquiring and managing businesses, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, and credit investments.