StoneX Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

StoneX Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 21.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,492 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,674 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $5.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $199.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,504,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,005,471. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $165.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.62. The firm has a market cap of $143.71 billion, a PE ratio of 68.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.51 and a fifty-two week high of $199.95. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. 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. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.