Analysts Set Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) PT at $119.53

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $119.53.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Oppenheimer downgraded Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $130.96 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $125.32 and its 200 day moving average is $115.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $93.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.29 and a one year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after purchasing an additional 880,745 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,417,140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,581 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.