Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

BX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Argus decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.86.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $120.03 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $89.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $119.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.38. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

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 company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone purchased 9,486,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 9,111,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,236,000. The trade was a -2,529.85% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders bought 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 worth $5,065,374,000 after buying an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $4,861,885,000 after acquiring an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,538,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,326,762,000 after acquiring an additional 384,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,275,747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is helping launch a $35 billion AI infrastructure financing platform with Broadcom and Apollo, with the initial capital aimed at expanding Anthropic’s compute capacity. Investors may view this as a high-profile growth opportunity tied to AI demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reuters reported that Blackstone’s private wealth inflows improved in June, which suggests fundraising momentum may be stabilizing and could support future fee-related earnings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is also increasing investments in significant risk transfers, a growing market where banks seek balance-sheet relief and Blackstone can earn attractive returns and fees. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Blackstone presented at the Morgan Stanley U.S. Financials Conference, but no major new operating catalyst was indicated in the transcript headline. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: State regulators are reportedly recommending reversal of Blackstone’s $400 million TXNM Energy acquisition, citing legal violations. That raises execution and regulatory risk for the firm’s dealmaking business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered its price target on Blackstone to $130 from $134 and kept a neutral rating, which may reinforce a more cautious view of near-term upside. Article Title

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.