320,179 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Purchased by Algebris UK Ltd.

Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 320,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $49,375,000. Blackstone makes up approximately 2.4% of Algebris UK Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during 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. State Street Corp increased its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,358,334,000 after acquiring an additional 412,281 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Blackstone by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $799,236,000 after acquiring an additional 145,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Blackstone by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $701,795,000 after acquiring an additional 416,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 13,502,092 shares of company stock valued at $294,789,896 and have sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.05.

Key Blackstone News

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Google launched a joint venture to create a new AI cloud company centered on Google’s Tensor Processing Units, expanding Blackstone’s exposure to AI infrastructure growth. Blackstone Announces Joint Venture with Google to Create New TPU Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Blackstone is committing $5 billion of equity to the venture, signaling a major investment in AI compute capacity and a potential new earnings growth avenue. Blackstone and Google form AI infrastructure joint venture focused on TPU cloud expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary suggests the Google deal is strengthening Blackstone’s competitive position in AI infrastructure and helping fuel investor optimism around the stock. Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company. The Stocks Are Rising.
• Positive Sentiment: A large shareholder disclosed a major stock purchase, which can reinforce confidence in Blackstone’s outlook even if it is not the main day-to-day catalyst. Insider Buying: Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Major Shareholder Purchases 9,486,795 Shares of Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone’s digital infrastructure trust completed the underwriters’ option in full, bringing the IPO proceeds above $2.0 billion; this is supportive for the franchise but is a separate capital-markets event. Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Announces Full Exercise and Closing of Underwriters Option to Purchase Additional Shares in Initial Public Offering
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen trimmed its price target to $133 from $140 but kept a Buy rating, which still implies upside despite a more cautious valuation view. Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $133.00 at TD Cowen
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone also gave up its pursuit of the €2.5 billion Stroeer deal, a missed acquisition opportunity that may slightly weigh on M&A sentiment. Blackstone gives up pursuit of €2.5 billion Stroeer deal – Bloomberg

Blackstone Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $116.92 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $117.34 and a 200-day moving average of $133.92. 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 stock has a market cap of $86.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. 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.