Financial Counselors Inc. Trims Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $697,464,000 after buying an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $525,375,000 after buying an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.13.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $144.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.38. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

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.