Planning Directions Inc. Buys New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Planning Directions Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,541 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.0% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $933,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.3% during the third quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC now owns 28,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares in the last quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 14,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,280,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $260,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $181.41 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $130.98 billion, a PE ratio of 62.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.34. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $102.79 and a 1 year high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.