Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Raises Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 157,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $3.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.95. The stock had a trading volume of 3,802,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,463,205. The company has a 50 day moving average of $123.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.18. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $137.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $95.73 billion, a PE ratio of 48.41, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Argus lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Blackstone from $143.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.