Public Sector Pension Investment Board Has $19.25 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,721 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,587 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $19,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 138,934 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,275,000 after buying an additional 2,331 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 46.1% during the third quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 35,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,482,000 after buying an additional 11,289 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 91.9% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,259 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after buying an additional 5,393 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 38.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 1,720 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WorthPointe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $430,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $189.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.47 billion, a PE ratio of 64.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.00 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 $120,610,146.69. This represents 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.63.

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.