XML Financial LLC Lowers Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

XML Financial LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,310 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 466 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after buying an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 936.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 5,383 shares in the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $557,000. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $1,364,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 11.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,159 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,705,000 after buying an additional 5,479 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $177.46 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $157.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.98, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.15 and a twelve month high of $178.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. 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 1.94%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.