Marco Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 2,256 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Marco Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,256 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $199.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $143.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.51 and a fifty-two week high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $165.86 and its 200-day moving average is $142.62.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 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. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.