Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:BX traded up $1.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $183.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 310,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,409,926. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.47 billion, a PE ratio of 62.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $159.65 and a 200-day moving average of $139.31. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.59 and a 1 year high of $183.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.