Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock: Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Grows Position

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 134,225 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,502 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $605,267,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $514,736,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $270,380,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $2,043,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 771,599 shares in the company, valued at $95,523,956.20. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 464,792 shares of company stock worth $12,205,945 and have sold 4,047,276 shares worth $33,507,144. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $125.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.91. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $165.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.16% and a net margin of 22.11%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 2nd will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 2nd. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a decrease from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Argus boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Credit Suisse Group set a $165.00 price target on Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.57.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE:BX) is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.