Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $180.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $149.69 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $109.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.16. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $1.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 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.