Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Increases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 138,934 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $21,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BX opened at $191.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.77 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.86.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

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.