XTX Topco Ltd Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 22,071 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,732,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mathes Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $637,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. grew its position in Blackstone by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 38,317 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Blackstone by 14.4% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,296,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $160,525,000 after buying an additional 162,896 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 56,308 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 54.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 15,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, 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 for the company. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.78.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $154.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $110.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.75, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $157.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.