Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $464,000 Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 104.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,321 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's holdings in Blackstone were worth $464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,721 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $72,000. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 1,696 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 65,513 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,296,000 after acquiring an additional 6,938 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX traded up $7.86 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $179.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,193,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,307,142. 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 cap of $131.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.65. The business's 50-day moving average price is $147.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Blackstone from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $162.18.

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.