Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 12,502 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 134,225 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 12,502 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,625,000. Third View Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Third View Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,011 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,933,000 after buying an additional 1,474 shares in the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9,275.3% in the 3rd quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,719 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 8,626 shares during the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 92,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,340,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $125.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $121.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.91. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $165.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.16% and a net margin of 22.11%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 2nd. This is a negative change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 771,599 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $2,043,440.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 464,792 shares of company stock worth $12,205,945 and have sold 4,047,276 shares worth $33,507,144. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Credit Suisse Group set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.57.

Blackstone 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.