LGT Capital Partners LTD. Cuts Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24,200 shares during the period. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $31,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.5% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.1% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $183.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $162.26 and a 200 day moving average of $140.80. 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 stock has a market cap of $132.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.39 and a twelve month high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during 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 expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the 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 directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.