KCM Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 191,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,965 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $29,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $201,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 936.2% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 5,383 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $557,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BX traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $180.31. 386,782 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,405,961. The firm has a market cap of $130.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.79 and a 52-week high of $184.34. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

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.