Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,325 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $509,000.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Blackstone by 468.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.
BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $164.69.
Read Our Latest Report on BX
Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $0.66 on Friday, reaching $190.96. 307,065 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,382,032. The firm's 50 day moving average is $175.41 and its 200-day moving average is $148.70. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $137.87 billion, a PE ratio of 65.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 118.21%.
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.
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