Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $132.00 Price Target at Bank of America

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on BX. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a market perform rating and a $118.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down previously from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday. 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 report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $118.92.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $118.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $126.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.74. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $79.92 and a 12 month high of $133.56. The company has a market capitalization of $84.61 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.