Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 1,848 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 156,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,848 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $26,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.4 %

BX opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $179.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.11.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.38.

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.