Plato Investment Management Ltd Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 136.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 759 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,132,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 1.1% in the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BX opened at $181.36 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $102.79 and a 1-year high of $184.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.33, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $160.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.60. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Company 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.