State of Alaska Department of Revenue Has $10.25 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 78,055 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its stake in Blackstone by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Blackstone by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,348,000 after buying an additional 15,875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $123.40 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.59 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $122.35 and a 200-day moving average of $124.45.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

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.