Griffin Asset Management Inc. Has $8.23 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Griffin Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 18.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 71,537 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 16,222 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 636,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 329,379 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $121.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Blackstone News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and TPG are reportedly trying to sell Hologic’s surgical unit for more than $4 billion, a sign of continued private-equity deal activity that could support fee-related earnings and investment returns. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays is preparing an about $875 million debt sale to help finance Blackstone’s senior takeover, highlighting continued transaction momentum around the firm’s private credit and buyout activity. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP lowered its price target on Blackstone to $165 from $190 but kept an “outperform” view, which still implies meaningful upside and may have helped support sentiment. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays also cut its price target to $119 from $124 and maintained an “equal weight” rating, signaling more cautious near-term expectations. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles were mostly valuation- or comparison-based pieces about BX, which are less likely to drive the stock on their own. Zacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone was linked to an AI infrastructure financing structure in which Apollo and Blackstone reportedly shifted Broadcom and Anthropic’s AI chip bet into debt held by other investors, which may raise questions about risk transfer and financing complexity. MSN article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.00.

Insider Activity

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