GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,992 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after buying an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $775,758,000 after purchasing an additional 141,616 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $175.91 on Friday. 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 $180.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.48. The company has a market cap of $127.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.45, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

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.