California State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,110,523 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 34,274 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Blackstone worth $191,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after acquiring an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $4.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $137.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,968,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,773,462. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $139.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

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.