Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $135.00 Price Target at Argus

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price raised by Argus from $133.00 to $135.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.0 %

BX stock opened at $122.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $125.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid 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 yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total value of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 50,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,588,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $64,000. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.9% during the first quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 7,573 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 176,780 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $21,976,000 after acquiring an additional 5,423 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $2,676,000. 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.