Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Trims Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 114,589 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 999 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Old North State Trust LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 5,966 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 201,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,772,000 after buying an additional 10,297 shares during the period. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 61,725 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,422,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,987,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 858,087 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $75,374,000 after buying an additional 244,990 shares during the period. 63.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I/Ii Gp L. Blackstone sold 14,704,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total value of $117,342,731.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,602 shares in the company, valued at $347,943.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 1,842 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $111.24 per share, with a total value of $204,904.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,618,430.76. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I/Ii Gp L. Blackstone sold 14,704,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total value of $117,342,731.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,943.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,812,942 shares of company stock valued at $128,543,218 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Blackstone from $117.00 to $116.00 in a report on Friday, October 6th. HSBC began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $113.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Blackstone from $110.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $118.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $98.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.22.

Blackstone Trading Up 5.0 %

NYSE:BX opened at $102.60 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.72 and a 12-month high of $116.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.46.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.60 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.29% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 140.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 27th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 134.45%.

Blackstone 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.