BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Has $18.26 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 119,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 17,645 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $18,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. L.M. Kohn & Company increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 13,280 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,034,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 28.9% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 270,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $41,452,000 after purchasing an additional 60,700 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 261.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 209,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,055,000 after purchasing an additional 151,483 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 121,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,597,000 after purchasing an additional 5,715 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 52.0% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of BX opened at $191.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $137.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.67, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $110.77 and a one year high of $200.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.99.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is an increase 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 1.80%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.