Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Sells 263,700 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec decreased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 97.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 263,700 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This represents a 24,898.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 1,660,538 shares of company stock valued at $24,981,930 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.7 %

BX stock traded up $3.68 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $139.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,851,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,771,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company's fifty day moving average price is $137.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.52, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $154.82.

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.