Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $169.13.

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

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

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,221,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after buying an additional 51,897 shares during the last quarter. SMART Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $806,000. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $170.84 on Friday. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $114.88 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $178.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.14. The firm has a market cap of $123.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.71, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

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.