6,527 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,527 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $855,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,106,889 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $654,292,000 after purchasing an additional 92,112 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,246,005 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $562,058,000 after buying an additional 106,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BX. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $4.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.60. 4,328,759 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,677,235. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $125.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.68. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm's revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.