Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $180.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $195.00 to $180.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.56.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $176.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $157.71. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $114.88 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.56 billion, a PE ratio of 60.71, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.53. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 12,090.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 58,777 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,254,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $155,288,000 after purchasing an additional 142,026 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Blackstone by 538.8% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,112 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,747,000 after buying an additional 11,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.