Allstate Corp Acquires New Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 26,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,548,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after acquiring an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $1,071,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $678,037,000 after purchasing an additional 202,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,200,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $628,265,000 after purchasing an additional 37,327 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. The trade was a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone 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 transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $187.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.25.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $163.67 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.86 billion, a PE ratio of 46.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.43%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.