Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE BX opened at $175.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.48. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $114.88 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $127.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 modified their holdings of the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.