Canal Capital Management LLC Has $12.15 Million Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Canal Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 105,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 15,892 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up 1.6% of Canal Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Canal Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,251,474,000 after purchasing an additional 329,379 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $122.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $119.67 and a 200 day moving average of $128.02. The company has a market cap of $91.17 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.58. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.67%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Thirteen equities 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 an average target price of $149.36.

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.