Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by SFE Investment Counsel

Key Points

• SFE Investment Counsel boosted its Blackstone stake by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 8,932 additional shares and bringing its holding to 52,492 shares valued at about $8.1 million.
• Blackstone shares fell 2.5% even after the company reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.36 per share, though revenue came in slightly below estimates.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, but Jefferies raised its price target to $152 and kept a buy rating, while Blackstone also continued its quarterly dividend of $1.16 per share.

SFE Investment Counsel increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,492 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 8,932 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up about 1.2% of SFE Investment Counsel's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. SFE Investment Counsel's holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,091,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director Ruth Porat made two small open-market purchases of Blackstone shares, a signal investors often view as insider confidence in the company’s outlook. Ruth Porat insider purchase
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on Blackstone to $152 and kept a buy rating, reinforcing expectations for upside relative to recent trading levels. Jefferies raises target on Blackstone
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg reported Blackstone is raising money for a third private-equity fund focused on longer-duration holdings, which could support future fee-related earnings and expand its core PE franchise. Blackstone core private equity fund
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone continues to benefit from strategic activity in alternative assets, including the monetization of its music catalog, which highlights the value of its investment platform. Sony royalties story
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone disclosed a prior sale of 25,000 shares by a major shareholder, but the move was small relative to the company’s size and appears more procedural than a major signal. Blackstone shareholder sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock remains below its 200-day moving average and has lagged the broader market over the past six months, so investors may still be treating the name as a turnaround-and-recovery story. Blackstone recent performance commentary
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst opinion is still mixed overall, with some firms downgrading or maintaining cautious stances despite the latest upgrade, which may limit enthusiasm near term. Blackstone analyst ratings

Blackstone Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of BX opened at $119.63 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $116.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.10. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given 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 yield of 3.9%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $113,169,363.51. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and have sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.36.

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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