Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Buys Shares of 20,989 Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 20,989 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,934,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $143.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,908,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,811,605. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.79 billion, a PE ratio of 43.26, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock's 50 day moving average is $137.60 and its 200 day moving average is $153.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $155.65.

Blackstone Company 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.