Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 61,390 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1,283.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 66,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,390 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Blackstone were worth $11,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $697,464,000 after acquiring an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after acquiring an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,006,000 after acquiring an additional 124,462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1 %

Blackstone stock opened at $148.65 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.08.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

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.