CIBC Asset Management Inc Buys 72,675 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 41.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,675 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $38,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,275,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after purchasing an additional 583,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 11.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $701,795,000 after acquiring an additional 416,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other 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 directly owned 25,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $487,129,914.25. The trade was a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Citizens Jmp dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Twelve equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.05.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $110.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $118.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $132.00. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $82.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone announced the final close of its largest Asia private equity fund, BCP Asia III, at $13.1 billion, above its $10 billion target, signaling strong fundraising momentum and continued investor demand. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone also announced a partnership with Nippon Life Insurance in private credit and real estate, which could expand fee-generating assets and broaden distribution for its alternative investment products. Seeking Alpha article
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone is benefiting from ongoing strategic interest in its infrastructure and data center assets, including a reported $1 billion sale of Colorado peaking plants to TransAlta, which highlights monetization of portfolio holdings. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: BX shares are falling with other private market firms after Partners Group’s withdrawal cap revived fears that liquidity pressures may be building across the private equity sector. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Additional trading coverage says Blackstone is underperforming the financial sector, reinforcing a weaker relative sentiment backdrop for the stock. Barchart article

About Blackstone

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.