Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 26,442 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,349,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,442 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $176,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $127.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $91.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $124.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

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.