Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $169.56.

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $169.27 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $122.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.17, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $114.88 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 57.7% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently 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.