Bamco Inc. NY Buys 79,416 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 769,894 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,416 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY owned about 0.11% of Blackstone worth $117,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $602,017,000 after purchasing an additional 61,739 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after buying an additional 116,367 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:BX opened at $191.09 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.09. The company has a market cap of $137.97 billion, a PE ratio of 65.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.77 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

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. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 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 represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.