Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for approximately 1.0% of Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BX. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

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. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents 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 owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $3.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $195.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 593,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,402,046. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.51 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.79. The company has a market cap of $141.36 billion, a PE ratio of 68.40, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. 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.