Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Position Increased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,357,529 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,394 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $211,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after purchasing an additional 937,084 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 468.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $137,114,000 after purchasing an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $188.00 to $195.00 in a report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.69.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $188.42 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $176.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.35. The company has a market capitalization of $136.04 billion, a PE ratio of 64.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

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.