Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 161.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,862 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Blackstone by 69.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4%

BX opened at $155.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $149.24 and its 200-day moving average is $159.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $190.09.

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. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 39,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. The trade was a 0.84% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. HSBC cut their price objective on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.95.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.