Barclays Lowers Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $192.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Barclays from $199.00 to $192.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.43% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.56.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE BX opened at $169.27 on Monday. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $114.88 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.59. The stock has a market cap of $122.21 billion, a PE ratio of 58.17, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Blackstone by 213.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 468.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $137,114,000 after purchasing an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $67,472,000. 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.