Gables Capital Management Inc. Takes $495,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,210 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 26,600.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 765,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This trade represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BX. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Price Performance

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

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its 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 analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone’s 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 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Blackstone 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.