Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 39,394 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,357,529 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 39,394 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.19% of Blackstone worth $211,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% during 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 buying an additional 937,084 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 468.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $137,114,000 after buying an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BX. Citigroup upped 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $164.69.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BX traded down $1.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $188.42. The stock had a trading volume of 3,658,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,396,843. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.88 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $176.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.35. The company has a market cap of $136.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.75, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.37 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business'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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.