SMART Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 1,400 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SMART Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.69.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $188.45 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $136.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.76, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company 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%. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.