Argus Raises Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $135.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective upped by Argus from $133.00 to $135.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BX opened at $122.44 on Wednesday. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.27, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.