Castleark Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Castleark Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 46.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,894 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 178,772 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 0.9% of Castleark Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $31,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,462,706,000 after purchasing an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,071,348,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,532,941 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $678,037,000 after buying an additional 202,245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of BX opened at $151.13 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.67. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $192.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.18, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the purchase, the director owned 39,077 shares in the company, valued at $5,741,192.84. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased a total of 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.