State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 242,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 21,085 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $33,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in Blackstone by 46.7% during the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 19,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 6,344 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.3% in the first quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 15,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,167,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 70,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,473 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 5.2% in the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 63,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,094,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 53,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,477,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $171.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.12.

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.