Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Coverage Initiated at Wells Fargo & Company

Stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.83% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $151.17 on Thursday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $151.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $136.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $108.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.