National Pension Service Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,152,682 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,671 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.16% of Blackstone worth $150,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after buying an additional 1,938,593 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $190,920,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet lowered Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Argus raised their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $119.79. 2,918,918 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,674,363. The stock has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a PE ratio of 42.33, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.05 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $124.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.45.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 2,851 shares of company stock worth $357,137 and have sold 2,587,168 shares worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.