Main Street Research LLC Invests $611,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Main Street Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,317 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $1,275,747,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Blackstone by 99.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,178,133 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Blackstone by 85.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,709,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $417,620,000 after buying an additional 1,249,269 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 476.1% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,324,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $204,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of BX opened at $121.98 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $119.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $124.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.00.

Key Blackstone News

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.