Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $187.12 and last traded at $185.23, with a volume of 174456 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Up 5.0 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. 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 data 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 return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 232.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 211.3% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,657 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,840 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 157,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,659,000 after purchasing an additional 15,610 shares during the period. Finally, BOKF NA grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 7,824 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. 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.