Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $172.3750.

A number of analysts have commented on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $1,747,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $273,000. Finally, Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $187.99 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $172.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.61. 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 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

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.