Oppenheimer Raises Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $171.00

Key Points

• Oppenheimer raised Blackstone’s price target from $140 to $171 and maintained an “outperform” rating, implying 17.7% potential upside. Analysts overall hold a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average target of $149.43.
• Blackstone reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.52 versus the $1.34 estimate and revenue of $5.04 billion, up 35.9% year over year.
• Shares opened at $145.29, while institutional investors hold approximately 70% of Blackstone’s stock; recent insider activity included both a 45,000-share sale and a 272,642-share purchase.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by analysts at Oppenheimer from $140.00 to $171.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the asset manager's stock. Oppenheimer's price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.70% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on BX. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Argus increased their price target on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.43.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of BX opened at $145.29 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $129.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.68. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $109.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 2,712,506 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $319,177,000 after acquiring an additional 267,375 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,542,438 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $299,169,000 after buying an additional 158,777 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $477,000. Serenity Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $188,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 12,011.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 130,414,132 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $15,345,831,000 after acquiring an additional 129,337,339 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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