Jennison Associates LLC Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Jennison Associates LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 29.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 260,365 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 111,247 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $38,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $581,886,000 after acquiring an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BX stock opened at $148.42 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $168.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.71%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price target on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.74.

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.