Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,161,626 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 27,472 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.16% of Blackstone worth $179,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,335,060 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% in the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 583,384 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 11.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $701,795,000 after purchasing an additional 416,933 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 412,281 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 13,502,092 shares of company stock valued at $294,789,896 and sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.05.

Key Headlines Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Google launched a joint venture to create a new AI cloud company centered on Google’s Tensor Processing Units, expanding Blackstone’s exposure to AI infrastructure growth. Blackstone Announces Joint Venture with Google to Create New TPU Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Blackstone is committing $5 billion of equity to the venture, signaling a major investment in AI compute capacity and a potential new earnings growth avenue. Blackstone and Google form AI infrastructure joint venture focused on TPU cloud expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary suggests the Google deal is strengthening Blackstone’s competitive position in AI infrastructure and helping fuel investor optimism around the stock. Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company. The Stocks Are Rising.
• Positive Sentiment: A large shareholder disclosed a major stock purchase, which can reinforce confidence in Blackstone’s outlook even if it is not the main day-to-day catalyst. Insider Buying: Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Major Shareholder Purchases 9,486,795 Shares of Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone’s digital infrastructure trust completed the underwriters’ option in full, bringing the IPO proceeds above $2.0 billion; this is supportive for the franchise but is a separate capital-markets event. Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Announces Full Exercise and Closing of Underwriters Option to Purchase Additional Shares in Initial Public Offering
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen trimmed its price target to $133 from $140 but kept a Buy rating, which still implies upside despite a more cautious valuation view. Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $133.00 at TD Cowen
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone also gave up its pursuit of the €2.5 billion Stroeer deal, a missed acquisition opportunity that may slightly weigh on M&A sentiment. Blackstone gives up pursuit of €2.5 billion Stroeer deal – Bloomberg

Blackstone Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE:BX opened at $116.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.67%.

Blackstone Company 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.