Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Invests $855,000 in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $855,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $120.62 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.92 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $86.20 billion, a PE ratio of 42.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $125.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.68.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

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.