Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $139.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $141.00 to $139.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "market perform" rating on the asset manager's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.62% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BX. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JMP Securities raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $154.00.

Blackstone Trading Down 7.8 %

Blackstone stock opened at $120.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.31 and a 200 day moving average of $164.73. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,845,000 after purchasing an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,053,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 889,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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