Bank of America Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $132.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price reduced by Bank of America from $141.00 to $132.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.49% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BX. TheStreet lowered shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.92.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $118.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 stock was sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other 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.