GoalVest Advisory LLC Has $2.35 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

GoalVest Advisory LLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,325 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises approximately 0.7% of GoalVest Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $7,922,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 30,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,944,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 232.8% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $326,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, 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. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $181.41 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.18. The firm has a market cap of $130.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.34, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.79 and a 52-week high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

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.