Investors Buy Large Volume of Blackstone Call Options (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 20,713 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 53% compared to the average daily volume of 13,524 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BX. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $139.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $102.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.54, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $160.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.