Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $174.00 to $177.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential downside of 1.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. 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, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.88.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX traded up $2.41 on Friday, hitting $180.19. The stock had a trading volume of 1,127,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,964,948. The company has a market capitalization of $130.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.59 and a 200-day moving average of $161.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.