Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 15.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,278 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 597 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. increased their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade 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 Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $181.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $130.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.59 and a twelve month high of $184.34. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $159.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.31.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.