Blackstone (NYSE:BX) PT Lowered to $114.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at TD Cowen from $117.00 to $114.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price suggests a potential downside of 3.93% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TheStreet cut shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.92.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded down $1.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $118.66. The company had a trading volume of 2,247,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,700,955. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.80 billion, a PE ratio of 65.23, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $126.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 37,983 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,990,000 after buying an additional 2,080 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 19,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 78,055 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 20.9% during the 1st quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 46,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,128,000 after purchasing an additional 8,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,698,822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $223,174,000 after buying an additional 5,145 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Blackstone

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.