South Street Advisors LLC Sells 5,654 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

South Street Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 109,307 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,654 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 2.5% of South Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $181.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,893,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,417,253. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.32, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.79 and a fifty-two week high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.