Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 336,308 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.06% of Blackstone worth $2,272,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 468.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $137,114,000 after purchasing an additional 912,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted 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. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $164.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $4.22 on Tuesday, reaching $189.57. The stock had a trading volume of 3,737,269 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,397,227. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $173.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.09 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $136.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

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.