Joseph Baratta Sells 113,000 Shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock

Key Points

• Joseph Baratta, a director at Blackstone, sold 113,000 shares of the company at an average price of $175.69, resulting in a transaction value of approximately $19.85 million, decreasing his ownership stake by 13.97%.
• Blackstone recently reported $3.07 billion in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, and gave a strong earnings per share of $1.21, up from $0.98 the previous year.
• The firm announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, which reflects a 2.3% dividend yield and is indicative of a robust corporate strategy despite a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Joseph Baratta also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 5th, Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $175.40. The stock had a trading volume of 2,046,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,144,950. The company has a market capitalization of $129.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.77. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $173.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.55. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,796 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after purchasing an additional 227,416 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,071,348,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Blackstone

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.

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