Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Major Shareholder Treasury Holdings Blackstone Buys 9,486,795 Shares of Stock

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) major shareholder Treasury Holdings Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $114.31 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $117.21 and its 200 day moving average is $134.14. The company has a market capitalization of $84.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current 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 net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.67%.

Blackstone News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Google announced a joint venture to build a new AI cloud company centered on Google’s Tensor Processing Units, giving Blackstone exposure to a fast-growing AI infrastructure market. Blackstone Announces Joint Venture with Google to Create New TPU Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Blackstone is committing $5 billion in equity to the venture, which may be viewed as a significant long-term investment in AI compute capacity and a potential new growth driver. Blackstone and Google form AI infrastructure joint venture focused on TPU cloud expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary said the Blackstone-Google deal is pressuring smaller cloud infrastructure names, suggesting investors may see Blackstone as better positioned than leveraged AI infrastructure competitors. Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company. The Stocks Are Rising.
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen lowered its price target on Blackstone to $133 from $140, but kept a Buy rating, which points to continued upside expectations despite the trim.
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone also abandoned its pursuit of the €2.5 billion Stroeer deal, a separate M&A item that does not appear central to the stock’s immediate move.
• Neutral Sentiment: A major shareholder, Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone, disclosed a large share purchase, which can be read as a confidence signal but is less likely to move the stock by itself.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.8% during the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivium Point Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.05.

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.