Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 1,439 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,439 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 22.1% in the second quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $423,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.26.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $156.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $171.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.98. The stock has a market cap of $115.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

About Blackstone

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.