Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Issues Earnings Results

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19, Zacks reports. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX traded down $7.92 during trading on Thursday, hitting $177.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,544,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,827,033. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.89, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $175.00 to $174.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.