Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:BX traded up $2.72 on Thursday, hitting $174.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,236,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,232,540. The company has a market cap of $125.67 billion, a PE ratio of 59.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $114.88 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $180.80 and its 200 day moving average is $156.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sather Financial Group Inc raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 4,050 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 2,185.4% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 3.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $179,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,343 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.