Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $169.13.

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler downgraded Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BX opened at $170.84 on Friday. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $114.88 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $178.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

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 dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $31,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 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.