Geode Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Geode Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,315,182 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,637,699 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,659,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. 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 worth $12,100,868,000 after acquiring 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 worth $194,746,000 after acquiring 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 worth $162,861,000 after acquiring an additional 583,384 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.3% during the 3rd 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. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,358,334,000 after acquiring an additional 412,281 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of the 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 purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 and sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on Blackstone from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Citizens Jmp cut their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.05.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $118.01 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $118.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $87.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.67%.

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.