Brokerages Set Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Price Target at $179.00

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $179.00.

Several equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $151.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $111.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.34. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $194.00.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 385,208 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.96 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,332,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $424,001,642.68. This represents a 2.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 2,950,751 shares of company stock worth $79,050,138. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,827,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,100,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,060 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,358,334,000 after purchasing an additional 412,281 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after purchasing an additional 227,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after buying an additional 329,379 shares in the last quarter. 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.