Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Invests $1.11 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,454 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th 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 raised its holdings 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 worth $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after acquiring an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.0%

Blackstone stock opened at $140.62 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $127.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap 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. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business’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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.