Legal & General Group Plc Has $713.44 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its Blackstone stake by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, but still held 4.63 million shares worth about $713.4 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Blackstone saw notable insider selling, including a large March transaction by Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp LLC and a May sale by insider Vikrant Sawhney. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought more shares than they sold overall.
• Blackstone reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $1.36 on revenue of $3.43 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock a Hold with an average price target of $151.05.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,628,508 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 49,489 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.63% of Blackstone worth $713,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $26,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 12,355,303 shares of company stock valued at $264,789,896 and have sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. HSBC decreased their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.05.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $118.58 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 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $88.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.63. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $117.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.54.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is 118.67%.

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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