Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Short Interest Down 13.5% in November

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,000,000 shares, a drop of 13.5% from the October 31st total of 19,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $1.61 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $185.44. 1,122,237 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,401,588. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.09. 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 has a one year low of $111.05 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

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.