Charles Schwab Trust Co Purchases New Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Charles Schwab Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,901 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Blackstone by 7.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after buying an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after purchasing an additional 141,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Blackstone by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $613,581,000 after acquiring an additional 21,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. 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 note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $3.32 on Friday, reaching $152.35. 887,704 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,411,865. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $143.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.93. The company has a market cap of $109.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $161.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 125.19%.

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.