New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 600 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vicus Capital purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $330,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1,629.2% in the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 31,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,426,000 after buying an additional 29,652 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $216,000. Finally, Values Added Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $165.09 on Friday. 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 quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.20 billion, a PE ratio of 45.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.11.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

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.