Shum Financial Group Inc. Invests $721,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Shum Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $721,000.

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

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $1.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $191.65. The stock had a trading volume of 250,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,414,437. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $143.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.37 billion, a PE ratio of 66.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $105.51 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler cut shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.