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

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 97,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,930 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $16,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3 %

Blackstone stock opened at $132.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.58, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.