Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $160.00 to $139.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group upgraded 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $157.22.

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Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX traded down $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $127.19. 7,805,964 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,689,276. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $149.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $165.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.04, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 11,232 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 29.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 246,998 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $37,823,000 after buying an additional 56,559 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,456 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,357,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,225,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.6% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 403,686 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $61,816,000 after acquiring an additional 21,440 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently 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.