Larson Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,759 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 51.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,759 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen boosted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone 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 directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $193.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $166.63 and a 200-day moving average of $143.28. The company has a market cap of $139.43 billion, a PE ratio of 66.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $105.51 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its 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 company 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

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.