Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 25.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,657 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $161.82 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $119.28 billion, a PE ratio of 43.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.32.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.