Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $172.38.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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, January 31st.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $152.08 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $170.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.84. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $109.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 19.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,355,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 27.5% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,438 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,670,000 after acquiring an additional 3,762 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $68,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.5% in the third quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 14,970 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFG Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 11.4% during the third quarter. JFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 242 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.