Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Investment Management Corp of Ontario

Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,728 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Blackstone by 213.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after buying an additional 937,084 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 468.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $137,114,000 after buying an additional 912,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 7,917.6% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 400,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,520,000 after acquiring an additional 395,011 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE BX opened at $186.18 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $170.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.93. The stock has a market cap of $134.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.98, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $111.05 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

About Blackstone

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.