Allen Capital Group LLC Sells 1,255 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Allen Capital Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 54,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,255 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises about 1.0% of Allen Capital Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,573 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after purchasing an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 468.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $194.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $140.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $105.51 and a 52 week high of $194.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $164.90 and a 200 day moving average of $141.94.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

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.