Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 12,113 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 238,050 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 12,113 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $181.41. 2,893,873 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,201,941. The company has a market cap of $130.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $161.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.18. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $102.79 and a one year high of $184.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, 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 $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone 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 $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

About Blackstone

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.