National Pension Service Buys 51,471 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,467,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,471 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.20% of Blackstone worth $219,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advyzon Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13.7% in the second quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 2,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,825 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 11,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellerson Group Inc. ADV increased its position in Blackstone by 5.3% during the second quarter. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV now owns 19,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,912,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders bought 2,565,141 shares of company stock worth $68,991,351. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $144.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $106.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $164.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.67. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.74.

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.