QRG Capital Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

QRG Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 22,602 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $18,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,796 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Blackstone by 115.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after buying an additional 583,384 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 384,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE BX opened at $163.67 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.76, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $151.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $161.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 147.43%.

Blackstone Company 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.