Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 8,410 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,693 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,410 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 53,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,178,000 after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares during the period. DE Burlo Group Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $14,785,000. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $232,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 950,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,560,000 after purchasing an additional 47,607 shares during the period. Finally, Trustmark National Bank Trust Department raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 2,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $185.03 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.47 and a 12-month high of $187.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.57. The company has a market capitalization of $133.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.58, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

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.