Griffin Asset Management Inc. Purchases 5,068 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,068 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up about 1.5% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,358,334,000 after purchasing an additional 412,281 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after purchasing an additional 329,379 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Blackstone by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $799,236,000 after purchasing an additional 145,056 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $701,795,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders purchased 13,502,092 shares of company stock worth $294,789,896 and sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

More Blackstone News

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 price objective on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eleven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.05.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $116.92 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $117.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.92. The firm has a market cap of $86.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS 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 business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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