Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 66 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 3.4% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,734,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $1,238,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $339,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.6 %

NYSE:BX opened at $199.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.71 billion, a PE ratio of 68.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $105.51 and a 52 week high of $199.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $165.86 and a 200-day moving average of $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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s 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 owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’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. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.