State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $33,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 7,440 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,339,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $846,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 81,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,028,000 after purchasing an additional 18,404 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $158.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.63, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $171.49 and a 200 day moving average of $166.83.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.