Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $188.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $169.00 to $188.00 in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on BX. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report 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 objective on the stock. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $172.36 on Friday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $175.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.18 billion, a PE ratio of 60.90, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $147.01 and its 200-day moving average is $133.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 121.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’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 value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 26,285 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,025,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 50.5% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 144,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,170,000 after purchasing an additional 48,601 shares in the last quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 25,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,946,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 6,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 27,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,255,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by 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.