Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Purchases 4,887 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 79,293 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,887 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $13,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,462,706,000 after buying an additional 227,416 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,071,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $678,037,000 after acquiring an additional 202,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $628,265,000 after purchasing an additional 37,327 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big increase in Anthropic stake boosts BX’s AI exposure — reports say Blackstone has raised its investment in AI chatbot maker Anthropic to roughly $1 billion (implying continued balance-sheet commitment to high-growth AI assets and potential long-term upside). Blackstone boosts stake in Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Large debt package to Australian AI-infrastructure developer Firmus (reported as a $10B financing with Coatue) highlights BX’s originations/lending scale into AI infrastructure, supporting fee and interest-income growth. Firmus financing
• Positive Sentiment: Management pivoting toward data centers and healthtech signals allocation into secular growth sectors (could support higher valuation multiples if executed). Blackstone targets data centers and healthtech
• Neutral Sentiment: Brookfield is reportedly in talks to buy Fidere (BX’s hospitality/real estate stake) for about $1.2B — a sale could crystallize value or reduce recurring earnings depending on price and use of proceeds. Brookfield talks to buy Fidere
• Neutral Sentiment: Transcript from Blackstone’s Bank of America presentation is available — useful for details on fee cadence, deal pipeline and distribution outlook but contains no single market-moving surprise. BofA conference transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Founder Steve Schwarzman’s push to build a major private foundation is a governance/capital-allocation signal but unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings. Schwarzman foundation plans
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies trimmed its BX price target from $185 to $161 while keeping a buy rating — a sign analysts are downgrading upside expectations even if conviction remains. Jefferies lowers price target

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. The trade was a 2.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of BX opened at $133.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $98.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.84.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 153.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.68.

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.