Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,613,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 63,571 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $185,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after buying an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Blackstone by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and TPG are reportedly trying to sell Hologic’s surgical unit for more than $4 billion, a sign of continued private-equity deal activity that could support fee-related earnings and investment returns. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays is preparing an about $875 million debt sale to help finance Blackstone’s senior takeover, highlighting continued transaction momentum around the firm’s private credit and buyout activity. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP lowered its price target on Blackstone to $165 from $190 but kept an “outperform” view, which still implies meaningful upside and may have helped support sentiment. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays also cut its price target to $119 from $124 and maintained an “equal weight” rating, signaling more cautious near-term expectations. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles were mostly valuation- or comparison-based pieces about BX, which are less likely to drive the stock on their own. Zacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone was linked to an AI infrastructure financing structure in which Apollo and Blackstone reportedly shifted Broadcom and Anthropic’s AI chip bet into debt held by other investors, which may raise questions about risk transfer and financing complexity. MSN article

Blackstone Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $121.98 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week 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 fifty day moving average of $119.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.98. The stock has a market cap of $90.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current 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 $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.67%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Argus decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.00.

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.