Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Takes $615,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,019 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Blackstone from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $164.69.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm'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 owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone 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. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.0 %

Blackstone stock traded down $1.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $188.42. The stock had a trading volume of 3,658,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,396,843. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.04 billion, a PE ratio of 64.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.88 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.35.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's payout ratio is 118.21%.

Blackstone Company 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.