Main Street Research LLC Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Main Street Research LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,317 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $121.98 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.98. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $90.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought a total of 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and TPG are reportedly trying to sell Hologic’s surgical unit for more than $4 billion, a sign of continued private-equity deal activity that could support fee-related earnings and investment returns. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays is preparing an about $875 million debt sale to help finance Blackstone’s senior takeover, highlighting continued transaction momentum around the firm’s private credit and buyout activity. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP lowered its price target on Blackstone to $165 from $190 but kept an “outperform” view, which still implies meaningful upside and may have helped support sentiment. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays also cut its price target to $119 from $124 and maintained an “equal weight” rating, signaling more cautious near-term expectations. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles were mostly valuation- or comparison-based pieces about BX, which are less likely to drive the stock on their own. Zacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone was linked to an AI infrastructure financing structure in which Apollo and Blackstone reportedly shifted Broadcom and Anthropic’s AI chip bet into debt held by other investors, which may raise questions about risk transfer and financing complexity. MSN article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $124.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.00.

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.