Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

BX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $165.00 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $180.73 and a 200-day moving average of $156.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $170,345,000 after purchasing an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Blackstone by 468.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,472,000. 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.