Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 105.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $152.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,368,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,838,058. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $139.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.83. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $111.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.