Evercore ISI Increases Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $165.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $152.00 to $165.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 1.72% from the company’s previous close.

BX has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $141.00 to $139.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.29.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $162.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $143.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.98. The firm has a market cap of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 48.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 24.7% in the second quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 5,269 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 29.7% in the second quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 4,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.1% in the second quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,912,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 142.8% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 39,152 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after buying an additional 23,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Busey Bank boosted its stake in Blackstone by 25.2% in the second quarter. Busey Bank now owns 5,126 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.