Short Interest in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Expands By 14.3%

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,650,000 shares, a growth of 14.3% from the October 15th total of 17,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’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 value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted 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 worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after buying an additional 141,616 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $182.00 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $131.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.34, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $161.40 and its 200-day moving average is $140.34. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $104.39 and a 52-week high of $184.34. 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 (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

About Blackstone

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.