Blackstone Inc. $BX Position Increased by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,307 shares during the period. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.8% during the second quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% during the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.2%

Blackstone stock opened at $153.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.17. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.