Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $177.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $174.00 to $177.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $176.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.43.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $526,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 894,657 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $154,257,000 after buying an additional 19,800 shares during the last quarter. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 18,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,259,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 2,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.