Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $149.00 at TD Cowen

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective raised by TD Cowen from $133.00 to $149.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.41.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $172.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $175.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 115.90%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares during the period. 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.