JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $122.00 to $142.00 in a report issued on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.98% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Blackstone from $158.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $143.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $158.00 to $118.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.45.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $130.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.12. Blackstone has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $96.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This represents a 18.20% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,275,747,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Blackstone by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.