Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $179.00 at Piper Sandler

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective increased by Piper Sandler from $168.00 to $179.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $172.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $114.88 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $124.32 billion, a PE ratio of 59.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related 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 value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 11.7% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 81.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 96,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,907,000 after acquiring an additional 43,028 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 104.8% during the second quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,170 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 7,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $940,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.