SFE Investment Counsel Acquires 1,465 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

SFE Investment Counsel raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,462 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 1,465 shares during the quarter. SFE Investment Counsel's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 65,513 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,296,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 22,086 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,262 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,800 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,158,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association grew its position in Blackstone by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 105,369 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $18,168,000 after acquiring an additional 15,497 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Blackstone stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $177.96. The stock had a trading volume of 3,595,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,164,950. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $129.85 billion, a PE ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on BX shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $168.71.

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.