ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 13,292 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 164,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,292 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $25,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at $487,129,914.25. The trade was a 18.20% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 25,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 13,502,092 shares of company stock worth $294,789,896 and have sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. HSBC dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.05.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $116.92 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $86.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $117.34 and a 200 day moving average of $133.92. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Blackstone News Summary

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 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.