Capital World Investors Has $2.74 Billion Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Capital World Investors cut its stake in Blackstone by 22.4% in Q3, holding 16,014,189 shares (~2.17%) valued at about $2.74 billion after selling 4.62 million shares.
• Insider activity was mixed: a major shareholder sold 1.596 million shares at an average of $10.00, while another insider bought 1.147 million shares at $26.16, increasing their holding to 16.72 million shares (a 7.37% rise).
• Blackstone reported a beat with $1.75 EPS and revenue of $4.36 billion (up 41.4% year-over-year), recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.49 (annualized $5.96, ~5.4% yield), and holds a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $165.86.

Capital World Investors reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,014,189 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,623,643 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned about 2.17% of Blackstone worth $2,737,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Blackstone by 16,035.1% in the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $194,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,197 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $568,902,000 after buying an additional 919,773 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 115.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $162,861,000 after acquiring an additional 583,384 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction 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, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 1,146,789 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at $437,297,073.84. This represents a 7.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $110.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $82.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.09 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 EPS. Blackstone's revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $1.49 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 153.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on BX shares. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. UBS Group reduced 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. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $165.86.

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.

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