Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 30,097 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 35.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 30,097 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after acquiring an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 69.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $323,000,000 after buying an additional 990,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 31.9% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after buying an additional 919,773 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.5%

BX stock opened at $150.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.90. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.05 billion, a PE ratio of 42.97, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.84.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have purchased 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.