Metis Global Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Metis Global Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,607 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,404 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% during the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,281 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $273,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $423,000. Finally, Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% during the second quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,565,415 shares of company stock valued at $69,037,981 and have sold 16,875,234 shares valued at $136,847,628. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

BX stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a PE ratio of 41.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.40.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 147.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.74.

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.