Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Blackstone (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 23,576 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 33% compared to the typical daily volume of 17,729 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.94.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $142.23 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $134.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.90. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16. The company has a market cap of $102.42 billion, a PE ratio of 50.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.90%.

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.