Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $174.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $175.00 to $174.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.50.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:BX opened at $165.70 on Monday. Blackstone has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.27. 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 market cap of $119.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Sather Financial Group Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 36,343 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.