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

M&G PLC lowered its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 32.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 17,161 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% in the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,281 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 346,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $58,337,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 733.2% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,343,000 after acquiring an additional 12,069 shares during the period. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 259.8% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 22,160 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,315,000 after acquiring an additional 16,001 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 385,208 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,332,883 shares in the company, valued at $424,001,642.68. The trade was a 2.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $164.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Ten 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.76.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of BX opened at $131.35 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The business had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $1.49 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 153.61%.

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.