Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC Invests $852,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $852,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. The trade was a 12.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of BX stock opened at $143.94 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $108.04 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $126.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.