Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $160.00 at Citigroup

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Citigroup from $137.00 to $160.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on BX. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Blackstone from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.29.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $1.85 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $162.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,976,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,887,856. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 48.86, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $143.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.98.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,344.11. This represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.