Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $149.69 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.16.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

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.