Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Short Interest Down 14.6% in January

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,279,700 shares, a drop of 14.6% from the December 31st total of 15,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,308,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $178.54. 1,655,213 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,989,509. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.90 billion, a PE ratio of 61.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $180.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $161.95. Blackstone has a one year low of $115.82 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth approximately $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after buying an additional 36,343 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BX. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

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.