Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by M&G PLC

M&G PLC reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 52,161 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,932 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,761,000 after buying an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,872,000 after acquiring an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $581,886,000 after acquiring an additional 117,724 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $144.29 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.67. The firm has a market cap of $106.55 billion, a PE ratio of 41.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders acquired 2,565,141 shares of company stock valued at $68,991,351 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.