Pincus Capital Management LP Invests $3.94 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Pincus Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 25,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,938,000. Blackstone makes up approximately 2.6% of Pincus Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,358,334,000 after purchasing an additional 412,281 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $1,275,747,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after purchasing an additional 329,379 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $799,236,000 after purchasing an additional 145,056 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 2,868,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $117.00 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $86.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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.