Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $123.65.

A number of research analysts recently commented on BX shares. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $708,859,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $290,514,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $123.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $122.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.42. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

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.