State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Increases Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 254,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,467 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $43,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.2% during the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore lowered their target price on Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.82.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:BX opened at $129.93 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.Blackstone’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a $1.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 153.61%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.