Quantbot Technologies LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP cut its stake in Blackstone by 96.2% in Q3, selling 182,142 shares and retaining 7,293 shares worth about $1.25 million.
• Other big moves included Norges Bank establishing a roughly $1.07 billion position and Vanguard increasing its holdings, while insiders showed mixed signals — a major shareholder bought ~1.15M shares (~$30M) and Tactical Opportunity sold ~1.6M shares.
• Blackstone beat quarterly earnings and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.49 (annualized $5.96, ~5.2% yield), but the firm faces fund redemptions/liquidity pressures and recent analyst cuts leave a consensus target near $165.86.

Quantbot Technologies LP lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 96.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,293 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 182,142 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,133,197 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in 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 valued at $162,861,000 after purchasing an additional 583,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $126.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $165.86.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, 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 shares were purchased at an average price of $26.16 per share, with a total value of $30,000,000.24. Following the purchase, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of BX stock opened at $115.48 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $140.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.07. The stock has a market cap of $85.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.76, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $105.09 and a twelve month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $1.49 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 153.61%.

More Blackstone News

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Potential M&A/deployment opportunity: reports that Blackstone is among suitors showing takeover interest in UK aerospace supplier Senior Plc — successful deal activity would support fee income and capital deployment. Senior draws fresh takeover interest from Blackstone, Tinicum
• Positive Sentiment: Industry veteran perspective: Oaktree’s Howard Marks said private credit doesn’t pose a systemic risk — his view can calm worries about broad industry contagion that might otherwise depress BX multiples. Oaktree's Howard Marks says there's no systemic problem with private credit
• Neutral Sentiment: Management response and tone: Blackstone COO/President comments defending credit quality may reassure some investors, but haven’t stemmed outflows yet — watch whether statements restore confidence. Investors poured billions into private credit. Now many want their money back
• Neutral Sentiment: Liquidity/operations: Blackstone vehicles have raised repurchase caps and bolstered payouts to meet redemption requests — operationally positive for immediate outflows but may pressure near‑term earnings/fee timing. Blackstone Redemptions Test Liquidity As Shares Trade Below Fair Value
• Neutral Sentiment: BDC liquidity move: Blackstone’s largest BDC raised its repurchase limit to 7% to handle investor redemptions — a pragmatic step that limits forced gate risk but signals elevated outflow activity. Largest Blackstone BDC hikes share repurchase limit to 7% as investors cash out
• Negative Sentiment: Flagship fund redemptions: BCRED has seen a sharp surge in redemption requests and Blackstone has injected capital and raised caps to honor requests — this raises near‑term liquidity, fee and sentiment risk for BX. Blackstone Redemptions Test Liquidity As Shares Trade Below Fair Value
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: JPMorgan and Barclays trimmed price targets (JPM to $122, Barclays to $126), increasing near‑term selling pressure and lowering upside expectations. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Blackstone Price Target to $122.00 Barclays Cuts Blackstone Price Target to $126.00
• Negative Sentiment: Stalled deal talks: Bloomberg/Reuters report Blackstone’s $4bn New World Development discussions have stalled over control issues — a failed or delayed transaction removes potential strategic upside. Blackstone's $4 billion New World talks stall over control, Bloomberg News reports
• Negative Sentiment: Visible shareholder selling: A filing shows Tactical Opportunity Blackstone sold ~1.6M shares — a noticeable liquidity event that can amplify negative sentiment. Blackstone Major Shareholder Sells 1,596,142 Shares

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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