Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $169.56.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $169.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $122.21 billion, a PE ratio of 58.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BX. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 32.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.