Arizona State Retirement System Buys 3,431 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 208,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,431 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $35,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 16,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,790,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.4% during the third quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, McAdam LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $150.59 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.49, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. 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 3.82%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 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, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.