Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $120.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective upped by TD Cowen from $114.00 to $120.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $126.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $138.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $99.04 billion, a PE ratio of 48.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.77. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $124.37 and a 200-day moving average of $124.38.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $708,859,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $290,514,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $247,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% 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.