Dockside LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Dockside LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 12,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the second 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 position in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $122.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $119.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.03. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Argus dropped their target price on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.86.

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.