Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Rating Increased to Buy at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $230.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior target price of $149.00.

BX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.25.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.9 %

BX stock opened at $185.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $133.85 billion, a PE ratio of 63.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $112.09 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.64.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly 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. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.86%. 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 is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after buying an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 468.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $137,114,000 after buying an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Blackstone

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.