First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 27.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,745 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in Blackstone by 3.1% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,222 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $171.55 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.14 and a 1-year high of $175.94. The company has a market capitalization of $122.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $152.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 121.55%.

Blackstone 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.