Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,550,000 shares, a decrease of 5.4% from the November 30th total of 16,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE BX opened at $172.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.49 billion, a PE ratio of 59.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $180.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $114.88 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.