Cane Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Cane Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,298 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $724,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Essex LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. Essex LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 5.1% in the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 123,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,242,000 after acquiring an additional 6,039 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 143,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 6,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of BX stock opened at $119.55 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $119.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.26. The company has a market cap of $88.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.36.

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.