Erste Asset Management GmbH Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Erste Asset Management GmbH reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,848 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 31,622 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after purchasing an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $1,071,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $678,037,000 after acquiring an additional 202,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,200,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $628,265,000 after acquiring an additional 37,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BX. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $164.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore cut their target price on Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Blackstone from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.38.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 1,146,789 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,716,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,297,073.84. The trade was a 7.37% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 4.0%

BX opened at $113.22 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $83.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $111.04 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The business’s 50 day moving average is $143.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

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.