Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC Purchases 425 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $39,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $1.51 on Thursday, hitting $170.19. 3,451,605 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,404,298. The company has a market cap of $122.88 billion, a PE ratio of 58.48, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.86 dividend. 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 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America raised their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.13.

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 dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone 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.