Blackstone Inc. $BX Holdings Decreased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,521,653 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 53,442 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Blackstone worth $170,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $104,001,000. SFE Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the third quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 76,664 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 12.3% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 6,990 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 765 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.4% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 156,432 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $17,534,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.3% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 54,190 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $6,074,000 after buying an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on BX. HSBC restated a "hold" rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Argus boosted their price target on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $122.00 target price on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.57.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0%

BX opened at $118.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $88.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.46. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $165.14.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. This is a decrease from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 99.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at $227,533,512.66. This trade represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total transaction of $11,077,261.44. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,392.80. This trade represents a 99.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 464,792 shares of company stock valued at $12,205,945 and sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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