Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,406,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 121,985 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $240,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners raised its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.4% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 15,116 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,578 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,424,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 1,146,789 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at $437,297,073.84. The trade was a 7.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $179.00 price target for the company. Finally, Argus decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.86.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone’s Energy Transition arm agreed to acquire a majority stake in Advanced Cooling Technologies (ACT), expanding BX’s industrial/energy-transition exposure and showing continued deal deployment and capital recycling in thematic areas investors favor. Blackstone Energy Transition Partners Announces Agreement to Acquire Majority Stake in Advanced Cooling Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Anthropic is in talks with Blackstone and other PE firms to form a JV to embed AI across their portfolio companies — a strategic initiative that could boost operating efficiency and portfolio company margins if executed, increasing future returns on deployed capital. Bosa/Wu: Private equity is about to eat its own software portfolio
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and valuation screens highlight BX’s premium multiples — forward P/E notably above industry averages — which can magnify downside during sector rotations and limits near-term upside for the stock. Premium Valuation: Should Investors Still Consider Blackstone Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts are trimming fair-value estimates and flagging pressures from BCRED redemptions and retail credit flows that could weigh on fee-related earnings and liquidity sentiment for Blackstone’s credit and alternatives products. How The Blackstone (BX) Story Is Shifting With BCRED Pressures And Alternatives Growth Potential
• Negative Sentiment: Broader private-equity stocks have been sharply lower recently (reports of 30–40% drops in some names), a sector move that increases downside risk for BX through multiple compression and investor risk-off flows. Private equity stocks down 30-40% in three months, bigger worry than geopolitical risk

Blackstone Trading Down 5.1%

Shares of BX opened at $101.80 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.02. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $1.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 153.61%.

Blackstone Company 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.