Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price

Key Points

• Bank of America has reduced its price target for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) stock from $200.00 to $199.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.17% from its current price.
• Multiple analysts have recently adjusted their price targets for Blackstone, with Wells Fargo raising their target from $153.00 to $167.00 and Evercore ISI lifting their target from $165.00 to $197.00.
• Blackstone's recent earnings report showed $1.21 earnings per share, exceeding estimates and marking a 32.7% revenue increase year-over-year, with forecasts predicting 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Bank of America from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report issued on Friday,MarketScreener reports. Bank of America's price target indicates a potential upside of 18.17% from the company's current price.

BX has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $175.53.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $168.40 on Friday. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $173.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in Blackstone by 34.3% in the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 16,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $423,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Blackstone

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.

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