What happened Shares of Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) gained 17.4% in the month of June, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, as the world's largest alternative asset manager changed its corporate structure, to Wall Street's delight. Blackstone was also helped by a big June market rebound from a May stock market swoon. As an asset manager, Blackstone earns incentive fees when it sells assets, which usually fetch good prices when the stock market climbs. Consequently, Blackstone usually moves up or down with the market, though the company makes some of its best investments during times of market stress. However, Blackstone's outsize June gain versus the broader market was likely due to the timing of its corporate status change. Image source: Getty Images. So what On its first-quarter conference call in April, CEO Steve Schwartzman conveyed Blackstone would be converting from a partnership to a C-corp, the more common form of publicly traded stock. As a result, Blackstone will pay higher corporate taxes, though not nearly as much as it would have paid before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Counteracting that, most shareholders will pay a lower tax on qualified dividends than on previous distributions. However, the biggest reason for the change was so that index and mutual funds will now be able to trade Blackstone's stock. Before, these large investment pools couldn't own Blackstone due to its partnership status and the headaches of K-1 tax forms. Management had long blamed the stock's partnership status for Blackstone's persistently low stock price. Now what Though the transition just happened on the July 1, investors were clearly anticipating good things post-transition, as they piled in during the month leading up to it. So, it's no surprise Blackstone's stock rose in June. Now trading at 19 times earnings, Blackstone isn't the bargain it was in April, but it's still the largest and probably highest-quality alternative asset manager in the market. Though any given year may be feast or famine depending on the timing of dispositions, I expect Blackstone to do well over the long term. 10 stocks we like better than The Blackstone GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and The Blackstone Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of June 1, 2019 Billy Duberstein owns shares of The Blackstone Group. His clients may own shares of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source