Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Buys 1,191 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 26.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after acquiring an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 255.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,698,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $190,920,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 16,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TheStreet downgraded Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:BX traded up $3.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $121.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,420,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,688,110. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.06. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.05 and a 1 year high of $133.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.77, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.31%.

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.