Brokerages Set Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Price Target at $149.43

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $149.4286.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $128.48 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $133.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $123.23. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $96.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $4,066,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at $117,883,632.95. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Finley sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This trade represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $30,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. NBH Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management and advisory services to institutions, corporations, and individual investors. The company invests across multiple asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, insurance solutions, and hedge fund solutions.

Its investment activities include acquiring and managing businesses, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, and credit investments.