Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $215.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $200.00 to $215.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $160.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.79.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $155.26 on Tuesday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $170.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.53. The company has a market cap of $114.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Conway Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.4% in the third quarter. Conway Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,773,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 142,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,396,000 after buying an additional 15,022 shares during the last quarter. Steinberganna Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,124,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 10.2% in the third quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. 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.