4,652 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX Acquired by M Holdings Securities Inc.

M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,652 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $605,267,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 8.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,520,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $519,859,000 after buying an additional 333,798 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,353,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $512,250,000 after buying an additional 52,755 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Credit Suisse Group set a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.57.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE BX opened at $122.58 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $165.14. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $119.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.20. The stock has a market cap of $92.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.52.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.16% and a net margin of 22.11%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 2nd were issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. This is a drop from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 2nd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $2,043,440.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,392.80. This trade represents a 99.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,992,776 shares of company stock worth $25,507,509. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc. is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.