Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Acquires 6,080 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 80.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,639 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 6,080 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BX. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,045,143 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $697,464,000 after purchasing an additional 113,732 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,430,909 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $525,375,000 after purchasing an additional 116,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,155,068 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $330,006,000 after acquiring an additional 124,462 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $148.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,381,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,275,264. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $108.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $163.53 and a 200-day moving average of $167.08.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $171.13.

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.