North Dakota State Investment Board Invests $3.87 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 25,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,868,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,358,334,000 after buying an additional 412,281 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Blackstone by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,677,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $799,236,000 after purchasing an additional 145,056 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,107,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $701,795,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:BX opened at $117.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The business had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. The trade was a 18.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders bought 4,015,297 shares of company stock valued at $105,053,996 and sold 9,128,660 shares valued at $46,457,920. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. HSBC cut their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.36.

Blackstone Profile

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.