Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Position Increased by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,571 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,927 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $221,478,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,667,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 5.1% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 245,370 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,873,000 after acquiring an additional 11,983 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 23,206 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,523,956.20. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 191,695 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.17 per share, for a total transaction of $5,016,658.15. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 8,895,478 shares in the company, valued at $232,794,659.26. The trade was a 2.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 464,792 shares of company stock worth $12,205,945 and have sold 4,077,276 shares worth $37,573,644. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of BX stock opened at $118.46 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $122.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.46. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $165.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 23.16%. The business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. This is a decrease from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.57.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.