Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $157.63.

BX has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $193.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $139.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49. 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 has a 52-week low of $105.51 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $166.63 and a 200-day moving average of $143.28.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.