Prospera Financial Services Inc Has $36.39 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Prospera Financial Services Inc cut its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 237,639 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,183 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up about 0.9% of Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 25.4% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 232.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,149 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,406,000 after buying an additional 7,890 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 188.6% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 16,998 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 11,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Blackstone by 22.1% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 554,268 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,731,000 after purchasing an additional 100,183 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 $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 corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $183.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $132.16 billion, a PE ratio of 62.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.39 and a 12 month high of $184.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal 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 was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Blackstone’s payout ratio 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.