Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Makes New $4.50 Million Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 29,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,501,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 10,827.3% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $410,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,997,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 936.2% during the 2nd 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 institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $190.29 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.44 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.69.

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.