IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Has $7.27 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,360 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 price objective on Blackstone and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.26.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $153.70 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $113.29 billion, a PE ratio of 43.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $169.89 and a 200-day moving average of $156.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.