Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $180.00 at UBS Group

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target boosted by UBS Group from $170.00 to $180.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:BX opened at $173.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $125.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $180.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $162.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.86 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $1.44 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 94.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction 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 represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 973,348 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $167,825,000 after acquiring an additional 512,165 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $67,472,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.