Taurus Asset Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Taurus Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position 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 buying an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $181.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.34. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.79 and a 1 year high of $184.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.34, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.