Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its Blackstone stake by 50.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 19,399 more shares and lifting its holding to 57,922 shares valued at about $8.94 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding about 70% of Blackstone’s stock, while several smaller investors recently opened new positions.
• Analyst views are mixed but lean neutral: Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” with an average price target of $151.05, even as some firms cut targets or downgraded the stock.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,922 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 19,399 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.05.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and Google announced a joint venture to build a new AI cloud company centered on Google’s Tensor Processing Units, giving Blackstone exposure to a fast-growing AI infrastructure market. Blackstone Announces Joint Venture with Google to Create New TPU Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Blackstone is committing $5 billion in equity to the venture, which may be viewed as a significant long-term investment in AI compute capacity and a potential new growth driver. Blackstone and Google form AI infrastructure joint venture focused on TPU cloud expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary said the Blackstone-Google deal is pressuring smaller cloud infrastructure names, suggesting investors may see Blackstone as better positioned than leveraged AI infrastructure competitors. Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company. The Stocks Are Rising.
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen lowered its price target on Blackstone to $133 from $140, but kept a Buy rating, which points to continued upside expectations despite the trim.
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone also abandoned its pursuit of the €2.5 billion Stroeer deal, a separate M&A item that does not appear central to the stock’s immediate move.
• Neutral Sentiment: A major shareholder, Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone, disclosed a large share purchase, which can be read as a confidence signal but is less likely to move the stock by itself.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders purchased 13,502,092 shares of company stock worth $294,789,896 and sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $114.31 on Wednesday. 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 quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $84.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $117.21 and a 200-day moving average of $134.14.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 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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