Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Free Report) by 105.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $1,747,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 716,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $123,508,000 after acquiring an additional 5,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.
Blackstone Stock Up 2.1%
NYSE BX opened at $151.29 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.57, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.10.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.
Blackstone Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.
Insider Activity
In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.65.
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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.
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