Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 592,573 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 23,661 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Blackstone worth $102,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its stake in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,102,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1 %

Blackstone stock traded up $1.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $166.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,788,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,303,787. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.28 billion, a PE ratio of 45.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock's fifty day moving average is $175.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.77%.

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.