Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Has $2.60 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,949 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 507 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $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 stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $199.05 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $105.51 and a 1-year high of $199.95. 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 stock has a market cap of $143.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $165.86 and its 200-day moving average is $142.62.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. 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 yield of 1.73%. 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.