LPL Financial LLC Boosts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 950,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,607 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.13% of Blackstone worth $145,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings 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 worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $613,581,000 after acquiring an additional 21,450 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,591,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $243,699,000 after buying an additional 24,199 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

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

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business 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 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 dividend of $0.86 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

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.