Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective hoisted by Piper Sandler from $168.00 to $179.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target points to a potential upside of 1.88% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BX. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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 research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $179.15 and a 200 day moving average of $151.95. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $114.88 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $31,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 32.1% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other 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.