Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Cut to $171.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price cut by equities researchers at Barclays from $172.00 to $171.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 9.98% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.89.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1%

BX traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $155.49. 463,995 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,841,580. Blackstone has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $149.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.72. The company has a market cap of $114.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.75.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 384,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. The trade was a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 797,148 shares of company stock valued at $24,050,153. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during 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 period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,362,796 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,358,334,000 after buying an additional 412,281 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 227,416 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,324,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,251,474,000 after acquiring an additional 329,379 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.