Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by MUFG Securities EMEA plc

Key Points

• MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its Blackstone stake by 373.3% in the fourth quarter, ending with 66,773 shares valued at about $10.3 million.
• Blackstone is drawing attention for its growing AI-related investments, including a planned $5 billion joint venture with Google and reported financing work tied to Anthropic’s chip expansion.
• The stock has mixed signals: DBS Bank upgraded Blackstone to “moderate buy,” but analysts overall still rate it a Hold, with shares recently trading around $117.05 after a recent earnings beat and a 4.0% dividend yield.

MUFG Securities EMEA plc lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 373.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,773 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 52,665 shares during the quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc's holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories 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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 125,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,375,000. The trade was a 16.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 and have sold 7,532,518 shares valued at $30,496,500. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.05.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $117.05 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $118.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.60. The stock has a market cap of $86.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) 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 return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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