JMP Securities Raises Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $195.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at JMP Securities from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. JMP Securities’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.71.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $177.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.52. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, with a total value of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 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.