New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 67,546 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 954,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 67,546 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.13% of Blackstone worth $124,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.94.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock traded up $2.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $124.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,070,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,687,834. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $126.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.06. The company has a market capitalization of $89.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

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.