Bank of New York Mellon Corp Acquires 180,422 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon increased its Blackstone stake by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 180,422 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 4.19 million shares valued at about $645.4 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with major funds like Vanguard, State Street, Norges Bank, and others also adding to or initiating positions in BX; institutions own about 70% of the company.
• Blackstone has seen mixed signals from insiders and analysts: an insider recently sold shares, but Blackstone also reported strong recent fundraising and business activity, while Wall Street’s consensus rating remains “Hold.”

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,187,110 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 180,422 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.57% of Blackstone worth $645,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders bought a total of 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

More Blackstone News

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone announced the final close of its largest Asia private equity fund, BCP Asia III, at $13.1 billion, above its $10 billion target, signaling strong fundraising momentum and continued investor demand. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone also announced a partnership with Nippon Life Insurance in private credit and real estate, which could expand fee-generating assets and broaden distribution for its alternative investment products. Seeking Alpha article
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone is benefiting from ongoing strategic interest in its infrastructure and data center assets, including a reported $1 billion sale of Colorado peaking plants to TransAlta, which highlights monetization of portfolio holdings. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: BX shares are falling with other private market firms after Partners Group’s withdrawal cap revived fears that liquidity pressures may be building across the private equity sector. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Additional trading coverage says Blackstone is underperforming the financial sector, reinforcing a weaker relative sentiment backdrop for the stock. Barchart article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $151.05.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $110.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $82.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $118.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.00.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.