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

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $127.56.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.2 %

Blackstone stock opened at $141.33 on Wednesday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.00 billion, a PE ratio of 49.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $126.38 and its 200-day moving average is $125.35.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.31%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its position in Blackstone by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after acquiring an additional 28,856 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.8% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,649,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after acquiring an additional 34,872 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.