Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Short Interest Update

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,650,000 shares, a growth of 14.3% from the October 15th total of 17,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $7,922,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $252,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,885 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $353,000. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 15.0% in the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 30,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,944,000 after buying an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their target price on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.6 %

Blackstone stock traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $180.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 285,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,403,209. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.34. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $104.39 and a 12 month high of $184.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $130.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.