Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Purchases 4,973 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 86.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,973 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sather Financial Group Inc increased its stake in Blackstone by 202.5% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $8.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $165.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,842,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,143,511. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $180.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.25. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $119.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

About Blackstone

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.