Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 524 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Blackstone by 213.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 468.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,472,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on BX. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.69.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $188.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $136.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.75, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

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.