Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the nineteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $169.13.

Several research firms recently commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Blackstone from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen raised 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX traded up $1.93 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $170.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,846,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,453,564. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.14. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $114.88 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $123.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.71, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.37 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

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.