Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 89.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,848 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 31,622 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 115.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $162,861,000 after buying an additional 583,384 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 1,146,789 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at $437,297,073.84. The trade was a 7.37% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 4.0%

Shares of BX opened at $113.22 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $143.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.45. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $111.04 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 153.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Argus decreased their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $176.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.38.

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.