Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $175.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $169.00 to $175.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.13.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $170.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $178.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.14.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after buying an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 468.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $67,472,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.