Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $151.0455.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $190.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Argus cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.9%

BX opened at $110.42 on Friday. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $82.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $189,735,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. This trade represents a -2,529.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 2,868,069 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. The trade was a 18.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,424,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trivium Point Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone announced the final close of its largest Asia private equity fund, BCP Asia III, at $13.1 billion, above its $10 billion target, signaling strong fundraising momentum and continued investor demand. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone also announced a partnership with Nippon Life Insurance in private credit and real estate, which could expand fee-generating assets and broaden distribution for its alternative investment products. Seeking Alpha article
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone is benefiting from ongoing strategic interest in its infrastructure and data center assets, including a reported $1 billion sale of Colorado peaking plants to TransAlta, which highlights monetization of portfolio holdings. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: BX shares are falling with other private market firms after Partners Group’s withdrawal cap revived fears that liquidity pressures may be building across the private equity sector. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Additional trading coverage says Blackstone is underperforming the financial sector, reinforcing a weaker relative sentiment backdrop for the stock. Barchart article

Blackstone Company Profile

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.