Oxbow Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Oxbow Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 16,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,991,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $6,112,162,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,538,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,326,762,000 after buying an additional 384,264 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $140.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $127.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.41. The stock has a market cap of $105.56 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This trade represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped 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. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

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.