Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock: Ethic Inc. Reduces Stake

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. cut its Blackstone stake by 12.2% in the third quarter, selling 9,317 shares and retaining 67,109 shares valued at about $7.52 million.
• Analysts have a “Moderate Buy” consensus on BX, with a $144.57 average price target; 13 rate it Buy and 12 rate it Hold.
• Blackstone’s quarterly EPS of $1.32 beat estimates, while revenue fell short of forecasts. The company reduced its quarterly dividend to $1.12 per share from $1.29, a 3.6% annualized yield.

Ethic Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 12.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,109 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 9,317 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hudock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 22,369 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 3,691 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR increased its position in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 18,572 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,082,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Carson Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 9,719 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 0.8% during the third quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,823 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,325,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler set a $126.00 price target on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $122.00 price objective for the company. Credit Suisse Group set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $144.57.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $124.03 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $165.14. The firm has a market cap of $93.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm 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 company's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd were given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 is 99.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $2,043,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $11,077,261.44. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,392.80. This trade represents a 99.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 3,992,776 shares of company stock valued at $25,507,509 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients.

Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.

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