Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases 66,211 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 846.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,037 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 66,211 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $2.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $158.48. 3,773,339 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,871,091. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $115.63 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.65. The business's 50-day moving average price is $142.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 112.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.65.

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.