Blackstone (NYSE:BX) PT Raised to $145.00 at Morgan Stanley

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price increased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $145.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 20.55% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on BX. Bank of America raised their price target on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on Blackstone in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $118.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TheStreet cut Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.97.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE BX opened at $120.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.66 and a 200-day moving average of $117.66. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $85.96 billion, a PE ratio of 65.73, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,133.38. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 96,256.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $429,634,000 after buying an additional 5,784,986 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,744,370,000 after buying an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $290,514,000. 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.