Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $180.00 Price Target at JMP Securities

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective raised by JMP Securities from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on BX. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.18.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE BX opened at $163.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $119.29 billion, a PE ratio of 49.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $144.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 475,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the transaction, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,032,400,000 after acquiring an additional 371,677 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by 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.