Creative Planning Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Creative Planning lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 237,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,668 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.9% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,017 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.3% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 6,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 616.9% in the 1st quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,927 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,800,000 after acquiring an additional 24,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $172.36 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $175.94. The company has a market capitalization of $123.18 billion, a PE ratio of 60.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $147.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 121.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.38.

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.