Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Reaches New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $186.00 to $129.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Blackstone traded as low as $115.66 and last traded at $122.75, with a volume of 4976167 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $125.04.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.50.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $239,837,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.8 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.20. The company has a market capitalization of $89.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 158.68%.

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.