Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 681 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 49,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 681 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 1,690 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $381,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 266,414 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,935,000 after buying an additional 39,542 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,187 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 2,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,636,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.8 %

BX stock opened at $163.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $118.28 billion, a PE ratio of 45.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.03. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.