Public Sector Pension Investment Board Acquires 193,843 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 129.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 343,956 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 193,843 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $58,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.7% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. The trade was a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.01 per share, for a total transaction of $10,000,012.68. Following the purchase, the insider owned 16,525,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HSBC cut their price target on Blackstone from $178.00 to $174.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $195.00 price target on Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.82.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.7%

NYSE BX opened at $129.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $150.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $158.46. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $95.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 153.61%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.