BMO Capital Markets Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $165.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BXFree Report) had its price objective trimmed by BMO Capital Markets from $180.00 to $165.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $164.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.77.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Blackstone

Blackstone Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of BX stock opened at $134.55 on Monday. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $99.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $152.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BXGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.92 per share, for a total transaction of $47,602.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,741,192.84. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 385,208 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.96 per share, with a total value of $9,999,999.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 16,332,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $424,001,642.68. The trade was a 2.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 770,078 shares of company stock valued at $20,058,800 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.5% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.7% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

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Blackstone Company Profile

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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.

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