Continuum Advisory LLC Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after buying an additional 141,616 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,931,411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $602,017,000 after acquiring an additional 61,739 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $185.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.09 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.25.

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.