Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. Acquires Shares of 1,484 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,455,000 after buying an additional 7,692 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,951,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 936.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,383 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone 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 sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $199.05 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $165.86 and its 200 day moving average is $142.62. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $105.51 and a one year high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $143.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.