Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $8.96 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 58,098 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,114 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,955,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in 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 boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. United Bank grew its position in Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after buying an additional 8,655 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.86.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $123.78 on Monday. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.24. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $91.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone acquired 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders bought a total of 9,487,234 shares of company stock valued at $189,789,892 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.