Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Cut to $132.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target lowered by Bank of America from $141.00 to $132.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TheStreet downgraded Blackstone from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $122.94.

Blackstone Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE BX opened at $122.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.06. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $87.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 132.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.