Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 45.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,466,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,786,019 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $509,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,561,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares in the last quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 1,034.3% during the 4th quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 12,711 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 249,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,543,000 after purchasing an additional 19,603 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Finally, Benson Investment Management Company Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $5,856,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A major shareholder, Private Multi-Asset Blackstone, purchased 573,614 shares for approximately $15 million, increasing its position by 7.28%. The purchase follows another $20 million acquisition in June and may signal insider confidence. Blackstone Major Shareholder Acquires Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is leading a consortium in a 20.5-year lease-and-leaseback agreement covering Kuwait’s domestic and export pipeline network. As Kuwait’s largest-ever foreign direct investment, the deal demonstrates Blackstone’s ability to deploy capital into large-scale infrastructure assets. Blackstone Leads Kuwait Pipeline Deal
• Positive Sentiment: The firm’s involvement in Jersey Mike’s planned IPO highlights its ability to improve portfolio companies and monetize investments. The sandwich chain is reportedly targeting an $8 billion valuation after Blackstone reduced expenses. Blackstone and Jersey Mike’s IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone recently reported quarterly EPS of $1.52 versus the $1.34 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 35.9% year over year to $5.04 billion. The quarterly dividend was also increased to $1.29 per share from $1.16, supporting the income appeal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains moderately bullish, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target of $147.76. However, recent target changes were mixed, including RBC’s increase to $169 and lower targets from JPMorgan and Citizens JMP.
• Negative Sentiment: A valuation-focused analysis argues that BX may be fully priced after a 37.4% three-year gain. Premium earnings multiples and intrinsic-value estimates leave less margin of safety, even as AI-related investments and new products could support long-term growth. Blackstone Stock May Be Fully Priced

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.76.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $129.40 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.05. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $96.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 103.80%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 10,825,959 shares of company stock valued at $224,789,900. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.