Financial Counselors Inc. Has $10.35 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $137.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.29.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE BX traded down $1.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $162.21. 3,976,798 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,887,856. The company has a 50 day moving average of $143.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 48.86, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone acquired 1,660,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate 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.