Focused Alpha LLC Purchases Shares of 9,355 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Focused Alpha LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Palladiem LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 26,600.0% during the second quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.1%

BX stock opened at $140.87 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.45.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 573,614 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. This represents a 7.28% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 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 Company 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.