GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Purchases Shares of 9,357 Blackstone Inc. $BX

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,357 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 2.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Blackstone by 69.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, December 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $175.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, HSBC cut their target price on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.95.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $155.20 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $114.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director James Breyer acquired 13,900 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 385,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,332,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. This represents a 2.42% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.