Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $139.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $141.00 to $139.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $134.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.