Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 72,864 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 110.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 139,039 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 72,864 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Blackstone were worth $19,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Blackstone Stock Down 1.9%

Blackstone stock traded down $2.98 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $152.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,687,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,523. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $141.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.16. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.65.

Blackstone 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.