Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 289,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,228 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $44,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,358,334,000 after buying an additional 412,281 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,251,474,000 after buying an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $799,236,000 after buying an additional 145,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 11.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $701,795,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.8%

BX stock opened at $117.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $118.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $132.69.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $173.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 24th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.05.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is expanding its AI infrastructure exposure through a new $5 billion joint venture with Google to build U.S.-based data center capacity and provide TPU compute services, giving investors a new growth angle tied to AI demand. Blackstone (BX) to Invest $5B in TPU Cloud Joint Venture with Google
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone was also mentioned in reports that it and Apollo are arranging about $36 billion in financing tied to Anthropic’s AI chip expansion, reinforcing the firm’s role in large-scale AI-related capital deployment. Apollo, Blackstone work on $36 billion debt deal for Anthropic, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: DBS Bank upgraded Blackstone to “moderate buy,” which can bolster investor sentiment around the stock. Blackstone was upgraded by Dbs Bank to moderate buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone announced that President and COO Jon Gray will present at Morgan Stanley’s U.S. Financials Conference on June 9, which is mainly a visibility event rather than a direct business catalyst. Blackstone to Present at Morgan Stanley’s US Financials Conference
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Blackstone plans to sell a Seattle office building at roughly a 54% loss highlight ongoing stress in office real estate, a potential headwind for investor sentiment toward parts of Blackstone’s portfolio. Blackstone to sell Seattle office building for ~54% below purchase price – report
• Negative Sentiment: Another article said Blackstone is facing valuation questions in the broader market, which can add to uncertainty around the stock’s pricing. Blackstone Swings Put S&P 500 Valuation In Focus

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 125,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,375,000. This trade represents a 16.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 and have sold 7,532,518 shares worth $30,496,500. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.