Ballast Advisors LLC Has $2.96 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ballast Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 19,346 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 836 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 0.9% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after buying an additional 1,290,324 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 4.0 %

BX traded up $6.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $176.42. 155,732 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,406,150. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $154.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.05. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $96.15 and a one year high of $176.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.29, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Barclays lifted their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.