Focused Alpha LLC Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Focused Alpha LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after buying an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus lifted their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $140.87 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $127.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.45.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research 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 $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, 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.

About Blackstone

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.