Waterfront Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 20,023 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Waterfront Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 20,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,066,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.2% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 29,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,615,000 after buying an additional 2,992 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.5% during the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 8,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,309,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after purchasing an additional 116,367 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.8% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 125,721 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,252,000 after purchasing an additional 4,587 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 138,934 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,275,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:BX opened at $189.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.38. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.00 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $136.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.