Live Oak Investment Partners Buys New Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

BX stock opened at $163.67 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $120.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $151.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.43.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.29. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%.The business had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 384,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. The trade was a 2.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have acquired 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. HSBC dropped their target price on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Ten 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.25.

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.