Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Increased by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 948 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $189.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $168.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.38. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.00 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone 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.