Northbridge Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Northbridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,933 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after buying an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $114.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $117.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.14. The company has a market cap of $84.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were purchased 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 owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total value of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety 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. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Google announced a joint venture to build a new AI cloud company centered on Google’s Tensor Processing Units, giving Blackstone exposure to a fast-growing AI infrastructure market. Blackstone Announces Joint Venture with Google to Create New TPU Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Blackstone is committing $5 billion in equity to the venture, which may be viewed as a significant long-term investment in AI compute capacity and a potential new growth driver. Blackstone and Google form AI infrastructure joint venture focused on TPU cloud expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary said the Blackstone-Google deal is pressuring smaller cloud infrastructure names, suggesting investors may see Blackstone as better positioned than leveraged AI infrastructure competitors. Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company. The Stocks Are Rising.
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen lowered its price target on Blackstone to $133 from $140, but kept a Buy rating, which points to continued upside expectations despite the trim.
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone also abandoned its pursuit of the €2.5 billion Stroeer deal, a separate M&A item that does not appear central to the stock’s immediate move.
• Neutral Sentiment: A major shareholder, Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone, disclosed a large share purchase, which can be read as a confidence signal but is less likely to move the stock by itself.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 price objective on Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.05.

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.