Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Short Interest Update

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,000,000 shares, a decline of 13.5% from the October 31st total of 19,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $191.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $137.97 billion, a PE ratio of 65.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $110.77 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $169.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.99.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone 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. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

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.