Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases 118,260 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its Blackstone stake by 41.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 118,260 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 402,059 shares valued at about $62 million.
• Institutional ownership remains strong, with several other hedge funds also adding to Blackstone positions and about 70% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Blackstone reported quarterly EPS of $1.36, slightly ahead of estimates, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $151.36.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 41.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 402,059 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 118,260 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned 0.05% of Blackstone worth $61,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Jain Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,116,000. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 1,270,608 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $217,083,000 after acquiring an additional 24,237 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 840,401 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $143,582,000 after acquiring an additional 142,479 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd grew its position in Blackstone by 16,035.1% in the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $194,746,000 after buying an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 346,318 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $58,337,000 after acquiring an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 2,868,069 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.36.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1%

BX stock opened at $117.96 on Monday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $117.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $87.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 118.67%.

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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