JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Target Price to $100.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on BX. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Blackstone from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $122.09 on Friday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $79.92 and a fifty-two week high of $133.56. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $87.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.31 and a 200-day moving average of $118.06.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 132.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 2,400 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bay Rivers Group grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 19,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,608,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $931,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in Blackstone by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 3,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.