Blackstone Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 20,713 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 53% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,524 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded up $1.78 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $139.89. The company had a trading volume of 5,797,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,447,325. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $160.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $102.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

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.