Ithaka Group LLC Sells 805 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ithaka Group LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 92,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 805 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for 2.7% of Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $14,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 232.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 211.3% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,657 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,840 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 11.0% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 157,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,659,000 after acquiring an additional 15,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 7,824 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $194.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.22 billion, a PE ratio of 66.74, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $105.51 and a twelve month high of $194.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $164.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

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.