Drive Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Drive Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 25.4% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 232.8% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 23.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,149 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,406,000 after buying an additional 7,890 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 188.6% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 16,998 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 11,108 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 554,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,731,000 after acquiring an additional 100,183 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone 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 sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $183.05 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.39 and a 12 month high of $184.34. The company has a market cap of $132.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $162.26 and its 200-day moving average is $140.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current 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. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.