Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 161,212 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,649,507 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 161,212 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.23% of Blackstone worth $246,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th 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 period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 118.1% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 410 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $914,000. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 99.1% in the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 26,370 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,686,000 after buying an additional 13,126 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 385,208 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.96 per share, with a total value of $9,999,999.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,332,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. The trade was a 2.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders purchased a total of 2,950,751 shares of company stock worth $79,050,138 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $145.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.93. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $194.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.