Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 768 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $199.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $143.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.40, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $105.51 and a 52 week high of $199.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $165.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.48.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.