6,854 Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Douglas Lane & Associates LLC

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 605,982 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,854 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $67,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Altus USA Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. NBH Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 26,600.0% in the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $2.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $115.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,649,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,064,584. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $166.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $86.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $2,043,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone purchased 272,642 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This trade represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 1,038,406 shares of company stock valued at $27,205,951 and sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment solutions to institutional investors, companies, financial advisers and individual investors. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the company has developed a broad platform spanning private markets and other alternative investments.

Blackstone’s businesses include private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, secondaries and hedge fund solutions. Its investment activities may involve acquiring and managing companies, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, private credit and other investments on behalf of its clients.

The firm serves clients and invests across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.