Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given Equal Weight Rating at Barclays

Blackstone (NYSE:BX)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by equities researchers at Barclays in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $125.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $129.00. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 5.57% from the stock’s previous close.

BX has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.92.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $118.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $126.47 and its 200 day moving average is $117.84. The firm has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after purchasing an additional 880,745 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Blackstone by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,417,140,000 after buying an additional 1,367,581 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,668,954,000 after acquiring an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,588,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.