Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Holdings Reduced by Heard Capital LLC

Heard Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,033,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 223,823 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 8.9% of Heard Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Heard Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $158,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 13,895 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.2% in the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,448 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 268.6% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 17,463 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,674,000 after purchasing an additional 12,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 769,894 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $117,894,000 after acquiring an additional 79,416 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on BX shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $187.05 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $111.05 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $169.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.28, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.