Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $134.00 at Piper Sandler

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective trimmed by Piper Sandler from $143.00 to $134.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Argus upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $124.24 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $88.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.24.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 117.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after acquiring an additional 28,856 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2,072.0% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after purchasing an additional 34,872 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.