Avanza Fonder AB Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 52,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $9,005,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $170,345,000 after purchasing an additional 937,084 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 468.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after purchasing an additional 912,685 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $67,472,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7,917.6% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 400,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,520,000 after buying an additional 395,011 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $178.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.63 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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. 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 the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Blackstone from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.56.

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.