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

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $118.92.

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.6 %

BX opened at $118.40 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The firm has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.70, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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 that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is 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.