Compass Financial Management LLC Invests $821,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,674 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $821,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Brogan Financial Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 2.5% in the third quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BX shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,379,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $143.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.82 and a 200 day moving average of $122.44. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business 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%. The business’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

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.