Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $157.63.

BX has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Old North State Trust LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 7,751 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,357,529 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $211,082,000 after purchasing an additional 39,394 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $240,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 31,635 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,844,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $4,501,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $187.05 on Tuesday. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $111.05 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $145.09. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $135.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released 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 net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.4 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

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.