Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Short Interest Update

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,000,000 shares, a decline of 13.5% from the October 31st total of 19,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was 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.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Old North State Trust LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,357,529 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $211,082,000 after purchasing an additional 39,394 shares in the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 31,635 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,844,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,501,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $1.61 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $185.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,122,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,401,588. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.89 billion, a PE ratio of 64.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $111.05 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $169.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

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.