West Family Investments Inc. Buys New Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

West Family Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $4,083,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $66,000. Iat Reinsurance Co. LTD. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $11,178,000. Finally, Princeton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $184.87 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.48 billion, a PE ratio of 63.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.27. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.39 and a 12 month high of $186.32.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research 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 research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Blackstone 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.