Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Holdings Boosted by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 15.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,250 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $750,000. Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1,059.6% during the 2nd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,693 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $658,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Blackstone by 19.2% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,302 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $191.09 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.77 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $169.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted 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. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.