Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Increased to $155.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target upped by Evercore ISI from $148.00 to $155.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BX. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a neutral rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $149.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $136.18.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $155.49 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $111.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.94, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $144.24 and its 200 day moving average is $132.31. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $88.59 and a twelve month high of $161.25.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.