Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $13.55 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 79,293 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,887 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $45,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big increase in Anthropic stake boosts BX’s AI exposure — reports say Blackstone has raised its investment in AI chatbot maker Anthropic to roughly $1 billion (implying continued balance-sheet commitment to high-growth AI assets and potential long-term upside). Blackstone boosts stake in Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Large debt package to Australian AI-infrastructure developer Firmus (reported as a $10B financing with Coatue) highlights BX’s originations/lending scale into AI infrastructure, supporting fee and interest-income growth. Firmus financing
• Positive Sentiment: Management pivoting toward data centers and healthtech signals allocation into secular growth sectors (could support higher valuation multiples if executed). Blackstone targets data centers and healthtech
• Neutral Sentiment: Brookfield is reportedly in talks to buy Fidere (BX’s hospitality/real estate stake) for about $1.2B — a sale could crystallize value or reduce recurring earnings depending on price and use of proceeds. Brookfield talks to buy Fidere
• Neutral Sentiment: Transcript from Blackstone’s Bank of America presentation is available — useful for details on fee cadence, deal pipeline and distribution outlook but contains no single market-moving surprise. BofA conference transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Founder Steve Schwarzman’s push to build a major private foundation is a governance/capital-allocation signal but unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings. Schwarzman foundation plans
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies trimmed its BX price target from $185 to $161 while keeping a buy rating — a sign analysts are downgrading upside expectations even if conviction remains. Jefferies lowers price target

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $133.78 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $98.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $151.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $158.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays cut their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $164.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 385,208 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the purchase, the insider owned 16,332,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. This represents a 2.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.