4,460 Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,884 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,460 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hudock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 22,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co raised its position in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 3,691 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 18,572 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,082,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% in the first quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 9,719 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the third quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,823 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,392.80. This represents a 99.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 3,992,776 shares of company stock valued at $25,507,509 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $124.03 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $120.00 and its 200 day moving average is $123.36. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $165.14. The company has a market capitalization of $93.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 23.16%. The firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 2nd were issued a $1.12 dividend. This is a drop from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 2nd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BX. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 12th. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.57.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients.

Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.