Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $170.00 at Citigroup

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lifted by Citigroup from $157.00 to $170.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.41.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $172.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 60.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.22. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $175.94.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its position in Blackstone by 3.1% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 6.4% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,222 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Moseley Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 0.7% in the second quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.