Vestcor Inc Sells 8,255 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Vestcor Inc lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 21.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,255 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,796 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 31.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $568,902,000 after buying an additional 919,773 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 115.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,088,786 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $162,861,000 after acquiring an additional 583,384 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, February 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $179.00 price objective on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.86.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 1,146,789 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the purchase, the insider owned 16,716,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,297,073.84. This represents a 7.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $110.69 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.09 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $82.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $138.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $1.49 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.