Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $182.7895.

BX has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC increased their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $423,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $155.26 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $170.54 and its 200-day moving average is $155.53. Blackstone has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.