Financial Counselors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 720 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $631,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in Blackstone by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 948 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $330,006,000 after purchasing an additional 124,462 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.7% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,813,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 3,740 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $144.81 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.82 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

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.