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

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,148 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 3,236 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,926 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,132,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.9 %

Blackstone stock traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $183.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,083,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,411,266. 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 $104.39 and a 12-month high of $184.34. The firm has a market cap of $132.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.34.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 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. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.