Retirement Systems of Alabama Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,884 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,938,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $190,920,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. TheStreet cut shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’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 value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.5 %

BX stock opened at $120.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

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.