Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $139.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $141.00 to $139.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BX. StockNews.com lowered Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Ten research 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, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $134.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $164.09. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The stock has a market cap of $98.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.09, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BX. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.7% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 11,232 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter worth $5,163,000. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.5% during the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 25,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,523 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,646,000 after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.