Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Sells 23,000 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 377,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 23,000 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.05% of Blackstone worth $57,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at approximately $929,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $290,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 120.0% during the 1st quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 10,178 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 5,552 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Blackstone by 7.9% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 84,876 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,150,000 after purchasing an additional 6,222 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays increased their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $188.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.00 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.38 billion, a PE ratio of 64.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Blackstone Company 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.