Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 15,384 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 125.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,384 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after buying an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after buying an additional 141,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.41.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $172.35 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.59 and a 1 year high of $175.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $147.01 and a 200 day moving average of $133.22. The stock has a market cap of $123.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. 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 previous year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone 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 sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.