Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Blackstone Inc. has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from 17 rating firms, with 9 buy recommendations and 8 hold recommendations.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.4%.
• In a significant insider transaction, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock for approximately $16.74 million, reducing his ownership by 11%.

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $172.3750.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,007 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,243,000 after buying an additional 52,659 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 534.2% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 34,901 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $6,018,000 after buying an additional 29,398 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 119,700 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $20,639,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 228,331 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $39,369,000 after acquiring an additional 4,181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $171.74 on Thursday. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.17, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $163.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.72.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. 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.

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