Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 388,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,012 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.05% of Blackstone worth $59,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after buying an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Blackstone by 468.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Blackstone by 7,917.6% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 400,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,520,000 after acquiring an additional 395,011 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $191.09 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.77 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $169.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued 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 yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

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.