Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 314,127 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 12,247 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Blackstone were worth $54,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $139.10. The stock had a trading volume of 809,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,781,187. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company's 50 day moving average price is $136.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.90. The firm has a market cap of $101.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price 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. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.65.

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.