Blackstone Inc. $BX Holdings Boosted by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 187,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,854 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $31,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 3.2% in the second quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 21.2% during the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $423,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.95.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $153.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $113.06 billion, a PE ratio of 43.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $149.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.95. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Blackstone 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.