Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 88,740 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 88,740 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $10,204,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after acquiring an additional 179,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after purchasing an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 355 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders purchased a total of 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP lifted its price target on Blackstone to $165 from $190 and kept an “outperform” view, signaling confidence that the shares still have meaningful upside from current levels. Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $165.00 Price Target at Citizens Jmp
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and TPG are reportedly seeking more than $4 billion for Hologic’s surgical unit, underscoring continued private-equity dealmaking activity and potential value creation from large asset sales or acquisitions. Blackstone, TPG seek over $4 billion for Hologic’s surgical unit, FT says
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Barclays is preparing roughly $875 million of debt financing tied to a Blackstone takeover highlight active transaction flow that can support fees and investment returns for the firm. Market Chatter: Barclays Readies $875 Million Debt Sale for Blackstone’s Senior Takeover
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays cut Blackstone’s price target to $119 from $124 and kept an “equal weight” rating, reflecting a more cautious near-term view even as the target remains close to the current share price. Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $119.00 at Barclays
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate report said Apollo and Blackstone helped turn Broadcom’s and Anthropic’s AI chip financing into debt for other investors, which is notable but not directly a clear positive or negative catalyst for BX shares. Apollo and Blackstone just turned Broadcom, Anthropic’s AI chip bet into somebody else’s debt

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.10.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded up $0.82 during trading on Friday, hitting $122.97. The company had a trading volume of 2,568,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,830,672. The stock has a market cap of $91.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.58. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.95. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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.