South Street Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

South Street Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,307 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 5,654 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for approximately 2.5% of South Street Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. South Street Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,766,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $247,423,000 after buying an additional 1,873,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Blackstone by 213.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $170,345,000 after buying an additional 937,084 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BX traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $181.41. 2,893,873 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,417,253. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.02. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.79 and a 52 week high of $184.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.98 billion, a PE 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. 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 dividend yield of 1.90%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.63.

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.