Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 466,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 258,954 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $61,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,098,150 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 255.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $190,920,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $124.22 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.20. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $88.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.