Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $129.00 at Barclays

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $186.00 to $129.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.22.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $137.94 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $100.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $974,448,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $316,257,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $184,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,606 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after purchasing an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.