New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 23,661 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 592,573 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 23,661 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $102,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vicus Capital bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $330,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1,629.2% during the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 31,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,426,000 after acquiring an additional 29,652 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Finally, Values Added Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $160.40 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $115.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $177.07 and a 200-day moving average of $164.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 94.77%.

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.