Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires 57,250 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 48.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 176,522 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,250 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Argus decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.36.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE BX opened at $122.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $119.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.02. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.67%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.