Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $179.00 Price Target at Piper Sandler

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price upped by Piper Sandler from $168.00 to $179.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Stock Up 2.0 %

Blackstone stock opened at $175.69 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.36. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $114.88 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sather Financial Group Inc lifted its position in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after acquiring an additional 18,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $179,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.