Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases 290 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,905 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,190,000. Advisor OS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 41,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,099,000 after purchasing an additional 21,831 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 9,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,684,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $414,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $159.26 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.99 billion, a PE ratio of 43.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $172.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Company 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.