Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Sells 3,452 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,452 shares during the quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 39,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 24th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Blackstone Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of BX stock opened at $142.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $159.22 and its 200 day moving average is $157.92. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

About Blackstone

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.