Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 251.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,690 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,132,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $201.65 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.79. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $105.51 and a 52-week high of $201.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 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.