Valued Retirements Inc. Acquires New Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Valued Retirements Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,611 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $553,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Lantz Financial LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $228,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,455,000 after buying an additional 7,692 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10,827.3% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the second quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 58,944 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday. Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $164.25.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded up $5.61 on Tuesday, reaching $190.96. 1,852,306 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,389,117. The stock has a market cap of $137.87 billion, a PE ratio of 65.77, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.09 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.64.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. 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 1.80%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

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.