Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,228 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $44,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 and sold 7,532,518 shares worth $30,496,500. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Citizens Jmp cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.05.

Key Headlines Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is expanding its AI infrastructure exposure through a new $5 billion joint venture with Google to build U.S.-based data center capacity and provide TPU compute services, giving investors a new growth angle tied to AI demand. Blackstone (BX) to Invest $5B in TPU Cloud Joint Venture with Google
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone was also mentioned in reports that it and Apollo are arranging about $36 billion in financing tied to Anthropic’s AI chip expansion, reinforcing the firm’s role in large-scale AI-related capital deployment. Apollo, Blackstone work on $36 billion debt deal for Anthropic, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: DBS Bank upgraded Blackstone to “moderate buy,” which can bolster investor sentiment around the stock. Blackstone was upgraded by Dbs Bank to moderate buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone announced that President and COO Jon Gray will present at Morgan Stanley’s U.S. Financials Conference on June 9, which is mainly a visibility event rather than a direct business catalyst. Blackstone to Present at Morgan Stanley’s US Financials Conference
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Blackstone plans to sell a Seattle office building at roughly a 54% loss highlight ongoing stress in office real estate, a potential headwind for investor sentiment toward parts of Blackstone’s portfolio. Blackstone to sell Seattle office building for ~54% below purchase price – report
• Negative Sentiment: Another article said Blackstone is facing valuation questions in the broader market, which can add to uncertainty around the stock’s pricing. Blackstone Swings Put S&P 500 Valuation In Focus

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $117.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.69. The company has a market cap of $86.95 billion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.67%.

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.