WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 60.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,830 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.1% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $183.16 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $157.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.18. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.93 and a 52 week high of $183.96. The company has a market cap of $132.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.94, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.