Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $190.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price upped by Citigroup from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.5 %

BX opened at $176.92 on Friday. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $115.82 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $162.26.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 123.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 10,952 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Blackstone by 83.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 4,220 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 146,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,462,000 after purchasing an additional 10,504 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13.8% in the third quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 7,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. Finally, Single Point Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth $214,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.