Morgan Stanley Raises Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $164.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective raised by Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $164.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $127.56.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $140.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $100.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $125.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.86. Blackstone has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $119.48 per share, with a total value of $26,166.12. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,115,488.60. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Blackstone by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after buying an additional 28,856 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2,072.0% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,802,000 after buying an additional 34,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

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.