PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab Buys New Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 406,540 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $62,924,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.95.

More Blackstone News

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sources say Apollo, Blackstone and KKR are competing to buy Shell’s stake in the massive LNG Canada project — a potential strategic investment for Blackstone that could add scale to its energy/private assets and revenue potential if a deal is reached. Exclusive: Apollo, Blackstone and KKR vie for Shell stake in LNG Canada, sources say
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend coverage highlights an upcoming payout (Simply Wall St/Yahoo piece), which can support investor sentiment for BX by signaling cash return and income potential for shareholders. Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Pays A US$1.16 Dividend In Just Two Days
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused coverage of Blackstone’s Q1 earnings call (MSN roundup of top analyst questions) may affect near-term guidance detail and investor expectations but is more informational unless new guidance or revisions emerge. Blackstone’s Q1 earnings call: Our top 5 analyst questions
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 BX shares on May 1 at about $125.79 (≈$3.78M), reducing his stake by ~3.23% — a large, disclosed sale that can be perceived negatively by investors searching for insider conviction. SEC filing: Insider sale SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research moved BX to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), a notable downgrade that can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling by momentum/quant strategies. Coverage referenced by Zacks/TickerReport and media roundups. Zacks.com Tickerreport: Zacks downgrade

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 9,103,660 shares of company stock valued at $45,982,920 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:BX opened at $126.56 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.13. The company has a market capitalization of $93.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.62 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 152.43%.

Blackstone 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.