Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 4,770 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,968 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,770 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $14,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13.2% during the second quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12.9% in the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group set a $171.00 target price on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $176.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $129.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $95.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $149.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.58.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 153.61%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 385,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,332,883 shares in the company, valued at $424,001,642.68. This represents a 2.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,610. This trade represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.