Bank of America Lowers Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $132.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective cut by Bank of America from $141.00 to $132.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on BX. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $118.92.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BX opened at $118.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $125.62 per share, with a total value of $301,488.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its position in Blackstone by 56.1% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in Blackstone by 34.2% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 8,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.4% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Insight Advisors LLC PA increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 18,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12.8% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 38,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 4,366 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.