Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $171.13.

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Blackstone by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after buying an additional 371,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 9.9 %

NYSE BX traded down $14.64 on Monday, hitting $133.03. 11,366,636 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,491,966. The company has a market capitalization of $97.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $157.53 and a 200 day moving average of $167.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share 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 given a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 158.68%.

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.