Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 591 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 25,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,765,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,952 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 125,754 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 182,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,842,000 after buying an additional 47,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 2,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 952 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Argus lifted their target price on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $3.22 on Monday, reaching $121.21. 3,399,241 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,688,110. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $125.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.25. The firm has a market cap of $86.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.83, a P/E/G 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

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.