Royal Bank Of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $173.00 to $161.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 33.10% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.52.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of BX traded down $2.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $120.96. The company had a trading volume of 479,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,831,400. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $89.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.75. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.