Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $174.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $175.00 to $174.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.50.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $165.70 on Monday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $114.88 and a fifty-two 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.94, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $180.71 and a 200 day moving average of $157.27.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its position in Blackstone by 202.5% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.