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

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $179.00.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BX shares. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $146.92 per share, for a total transaction of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. The trade was a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.4%

BX opened at $152.07 on Friday. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $194.00. The company has a market capitalization of $112.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $152.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

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.