Analysts Set Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Price Target at $123.65

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $123.65.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its position in Blackstone by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after buying an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $855,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:BX opened at $123.40 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a market cap of $88.19 billion, a PE ratio of 43.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

About Blackstone

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.