Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,236 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,132,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $181.41 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $130.98 billion, a PE ratio of 62.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $161.40 and a 200 day moving average of $140.34. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.79 and a 52 week high of $184.34. 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 (NYSE:BX) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, 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. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % 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 company 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.