Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,974 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.4 %

Blackstone stock opened at $149.69 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $164.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.16. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.24, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. 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 dividend yield of 3.85%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone 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.