Joseph Baratta Sells 100,000 Shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 771,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $125.00. 5,998,605 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,160,321. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $134.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $93.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $189.88.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $221,478,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $8,667,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,561,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,303,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management and advisory services to institutions, corporations, and individual investors. The company invests across multiple asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, insurance solutions, and hedge fund solutions.

Its investment activities include acquiring and managing businesses, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, and credit investments.