Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Rating Increased to Moderate Buy at Dbs Bank

Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to a moderate buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BX. Weiss Ratings downgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.05.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

BX opened at $118.01 on Wednesday. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.18, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $118.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.01.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.67%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $123.04 per share, with a total value of $43,679.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 2,868,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 18,628,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896 and sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,424,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,686,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivium Point Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.