Bennett Selby Investments LP Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Bennett Selby Investments LP acquired a new stake of 1,427 shares in Blackstone Inc., valued at approximately $213,000, during the second quarter.
• Blackstone reported $1.21 EPS in its latest earnings, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a 32.7% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The firm recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, resulting in a current yield of 2.3%.

Bennett Selby Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,427 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $980,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,111 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of BX opened at $175.99 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.26. The stock has a market cap of $129.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.31, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.71.

Blackstone Profile

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.

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