Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $139.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $160.00 to $139.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America decreased their target price on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group upgraded Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.22.

Blackstone Stock Down 7.5 %

Blackstone stock opened at $127.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $92.68 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $165.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Research analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 158.68%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.