JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $122.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $158.00 to $122.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 20th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $126.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.86.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.2%

BX stock opened at $115.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $85.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $140.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.07. Blackstone has a one year low of $105.09 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 153.61%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 1,146,789 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.16 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.24. Following the purchase, the insider owned 16,716,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,297,073.84. The trade was a 7.37% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,462,706,000 after buying an additional 227,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,275,747,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Potential M&A/deployment opportunity: reports that Blackstone is among suitors showing takeover interest in UK aerospace supplier Senior Plc — successful deal activity would support fee income and capital deployment. Senior draws fresh takeover interest from Blackstone, Tinicum
• Positive Sentiment: Industry veteran perspective: Oaktree’s Howard Marks said private credit doesn’t pose a systemic risk — his view can calm worries about broad industry contagion that might otherwise depress BX multiples. Oaktree’s Howard Marks says there’s no systemic problem with private credit
• Neutral Sentiment: Management response and tone: Blackstone COO/President comments defending credit quality may reassure some investors, but haven’t stemmed outflows yet — watch whether statements restore confidence. Investors poured billions into private credit. Now many want their money back
• Neutral Sentiment: Liquidity/operations: Blackstone vehicles have raised repurchase caps and bolstered payouts to meet redemption requests — operationally positive for immediate outflows but may pressure near?term earnings/fee timing. Blackstone Redemptions Test Liquidity As Shares Trade Below Fair Value
• Neutral Sentiment: BDC liquidity move: Blackstone’s largest BDC raised its repurchase limit to 7% to handle investor redemptions — a pragmatic step that limits forced gate risk but signals elevated outflow activity. Largest Blackstone BDC hikes share repurchase limit to 7% as investors cash out
• Negative Sentiment: Flagship fund redemptions: BCRED has seen a sharp surge in redemption requests and Blackstone has injected capital and raised caps to honor requests — this raises near?term liquidity, fee and sentiment risk for BX. Blackstone Redemptions Test Liquidity As Shares Trade Below Fair Value
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: JPMorgan and Barclays trimmed price targets (JPM to $122, Barclays to $126), increasing near?term selling pressure and lowering upside expectations. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Blackstone Price Target to $122.00 Barclays Cuts Blackstone Price Target to $126.00
• Negative Sentiment: Stalled deal talks: Bloomberg/Reuters report Blackstone’s $4bn New World Development discussions have stalled over control issues — a failed or delayed transaction removes potential strategic upside. Blackstone’s $4 billion New World talks stall over control, Bloomberg News reports
• Negative Sentiment: Visible shareholder selling: A filing shows Tactical Opportunity Blackstone sold ~1.6M shares — a noticeable liquidity event that can amplify negative sentiment. Blackstone Major Shareholder Sells 1,596,142 Shares

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.