UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Sells 16,651 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 16,651 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,364,373,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $605,267,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,520,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $519,859,000 after acquiring an additional 333,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,353,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $512,250,000 after acquiring an additional 52,755 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $122.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Piper Sandler set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.57.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $118.58 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $165.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $118.93 and its 200-day moving average is $122.90.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.16% and a net margin of 22.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 2nd were given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 2nd. This is a drop from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 99.56%.

Key Headlines Impacting Blackstone

These are some of the BX headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Director Ruth Porat disclosed two purchases on November 9 totaling 453 shares for about $54,700. The buying may be viewed as a vote of confidence, though the purchases were modest relative to her reported holdings. SEC ownership filing
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone will provide Pfizer up to $1.5 billion to support development of an investigational obesity drug. The deal offers potential exposure to a large healthcare market, although returns depend on the drug’s development and commercial prospects. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: A data-center campus developer backed by Blackstone secured more than $1.5 billion in financing, highlighting activity in the firm’s digital-infrastructure portfolio; the report does not specify a direct financial benefit to BX. Data center financing article

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $11,077,261.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,392.80. The trade was a 99.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 369 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $120.88 per share, for a total transaction of $44,604.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 42,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,144,411.04. This represents a 0.87% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 464,790 shares of company stock worth $12,198,198 and have sold 3,992,776 shares worth $25,507,509. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc. is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.