Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Capital International Investors

Key Points

• Capital International Investors trimmed its Blackstone stake by 42.8% in Q3, selling 4,004,831 shares and ending the quarter with 5,354,683 shares (about 0.73% of Blackstone, valued at ~$915M).
• Institutional and insider activity was mixed: Vanguard and Geode added shares, Norges Bank opened a ~$1.07B position, while a major shareholder sold 1.596M shares at $10.00 and another insider bought 1.147M shares at $26.16, raising their direct holdings to ~16.7M shares.
• Investor sentiment is under pressure—short interest rose ~27.8% to 16.63M shares and put trading spiked ~62%, amid heavy redemptions in the BCRED private‑credit fund and analyst price‑target cuts that have weighed on the stock.

Capital International Investors decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,354,683 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,004,831 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors owned approximately 0.73% of Blackstone worth $914,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,100,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,060 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,462,706,000 after buying an additional 227,416 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $799,236,000 after acquiring an additional 145,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,200,194 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $628,265,000 after purchasing an additional 37,327 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Blue Owl Capital agreed to acquire a stake in private‑equity firm Atlas, signaling continued deal flow and partnership activity that can drive fee and carry income. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone Life Sciences struck a co‑funding arrangement with Johnson & Johnson on a cancer therapy trial and the firm is exploring an acquisition of Whitestone REIT—moves that diversify revenue sources beyond private credit. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary in the WSJ highlights that large, diversified asset managers like Blackstone and BlackRock are better positioned to absorb shocks in private credit, suggesting resilience but not immediate relief to valuation pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest jumped ~27.8% in February to 16.63M shares (about 2.3% of float), increasing bearish pressure and potential downward momentum if shorts accelerate. (Days‑to‑cover ≈ 1.6.)
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put option activity — ~29,939 puts traded (up 62% vs. norm) — indicates elevated hedging or outright bearish bets from options traders.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing concerns about heavy redemptions in Blackstone’s flagship BCRED private‑credit fund (record requests, a $400M capital injection and higher share repurchase cap) are weighing on sentiment and valuation. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays cut its price target on BX to $126 from $164, reflecting revised estimates for alternative asset managers and contributing to near‑term selling pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple analyst pieces and commentaries are questioning whether to sell given private‑credit woes and recent share weakness, which can amplify outflows and downward momentum. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 1,146,789 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,297,073.84. The trade was a 7.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of BX stock opened at $109.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.68. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.09 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. Blackstone's revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $1.49 dividend. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 153.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. HSBC cut their target price on Blackstone from $178.00 to $174.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $165.86.

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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