First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 10.9%, acquiring an additional 3,307 shares, bringing their total to 33,527 shares valued at $5,015,000.
• Despite some analysts adjusting their target prices, the overall sentiment remains positive with analysts giving Blackstone an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $179.00.
• Blackstone recently declared an increased quarterly dividend of $1.03, up from $0.93, representing an annualized dividend of $4.12 with a yield of 2.7%.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 10.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,527 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 3,307 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $179.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $153.88 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $172.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.17. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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