Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $175.91 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $180.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.48. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $114.88 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $127.01 billion, a PE ratio of 60.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after buying an additional 36,343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.