Carnegie Investment Counsel Sells 13,351 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Carnegie Investment Counsel cut its Blackstone stake by 31.6% in the first quarter, selling 13,351 shares and leaving it with 28,834 shares valued at about $3.3 million.
• Recent analyst updates were mixed: Citizens JMP raised its price target and kept an outperform rating, while Barclays and JPMorgan trimmed targets and maintained more cautious views. Overall, analysts still rate Blackstone as a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $147.10.
• Blackstone’s latest earnings beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $1.36 versus $1.34 expected and revenue up 10% year over year. The company also paid a $1.16 quarterly dividend, though the payout ratio is high at 118.67%.

Carnegie Investment Counsel reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 31.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,834 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 13,351 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP lifted its price target on Blackstone to $165 from $190 and kept an “outperform” view, signaling confidence that the shares still have meaningful upside from current levels. Blackstone NYSE: BX Given New $165.00 Price Target at Citizens Jmp
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and TPG are reportedly seeking more than $4 billion for Hologic’s surgical unit, underscoring continued private-equity dealmaking activity and potential value creation from large asset sales or acquisitions. Blackstone, TPG seek over $4 billion for Hologic's surgical unit, FT says
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Barclays is preparing roughly $875 million of debt financing tied to a Blackstone takeover highlight active transaction flow that can support fees and investment returns for the firm. Market Chatter: Barclays Readies $875 Million Debt Sale for Blackstone's Senior Takeover
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays cut Blackstone’s price target to $119 from $124 and kept an “equal weight” rating, reflecting a more cautious near-term view even as the target remains close to the current share price. Blackstone NYSE: BX Price Target Lowered to $119.00 at Barclays
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate report said Apollo and Blackstone helped turn Broadcom’s and Anthropic’s AI chip financing into debt for other investors, which is notable but not directly a clear positive or negative catalyst for BX shares. Apollo and Blackstone just turned Broadcom, Anthropic's AI chip bet into somebody else's debt

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Zacks Research raised Blackstone from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $147.10.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:BX opened at $122.97 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $119.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $91.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

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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