Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $155.65.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $25,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BX stock opened at $136.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $99.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.53, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.04. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 112.05%.

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.