Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 47.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,302 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in 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 worth $194,746,000 after buying an additional 1,133,197 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after acquiring an additional 919,773 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 115.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $162,861,000 after acquiring an additional 583,384 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $179.00 target price for the company. HSBC reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $178.00 to $174.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.86.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $113.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $84.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.91.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $1.49 dividend. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 153.61%.

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.