Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,660 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 460 shares during the quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Highlander Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 48.8% during the second quarter. Highlander Partners L.P. now owns 244,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $36,498,000 after purchasing an additional 80,000 shares during the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 20.6% during the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 34,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 5,884 shares during the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the second quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 78,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 23.4% during the second quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 90.2% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 778 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of BX opened at $144.32 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $166.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.09. The stock has a market cap of $106.38 billion, a PE ratio of 41.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. HSBC reduced their target price on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 target price on Blackstone and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 2,565,415 shares of company stock valued at $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares valued at $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is owned by 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.