Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,291,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 66,078 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $222,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 214.2% in the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after purchasing an additional 15,205 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,688 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 6.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $139,302,000 after buying an additional 51,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $142.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $104.14 billion, a PE ratio of 39.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $159.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.68%.

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.