Bamco Inc. NY Purchases 79,416 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 769,894 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,416 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $117,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE BX opened at $191.09 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $169.29 and a 200 day moving average of $145.09. The company has a market capitalization of $137.97 billion, a PE ratio of 65.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.77 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 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 business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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. The trade was 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 owned by corporate insiders.

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.