Cooper Financial Group Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,536 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% in the second quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $576,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $153.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $113.06 billion, a PE ratio of 43.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $149.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 147.43%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders acquired 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BX. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. HSBC dropped their target price on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $175.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.95.

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.