Dockside LLC Takes $1.93 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Dockside LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after purchasing an additional 329,379 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:BX opened at $122.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $91.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.03. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.