New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 954,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 67,546 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $124,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PFG Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $226,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth about $9,036,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $463,000. Essex LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth approximately $381,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 19.8% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,796 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:BX traded up $2.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $124.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,070,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,687,834. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $89.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.06.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.94.

About Blackstone

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.