Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nineteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $128.94.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $708,859,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $290,514,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.7 %

Blackstone stock opened at $143.27 on Thursday. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $145.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $135.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $103.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

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.