Equitable Trust Co. Grows Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Equitable Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on BX. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $177.46 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $157.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.08. The firm has a market cap of $128.13 billion, a PE ratio of 60.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.15 and a 52-week high of $178.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

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.