Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $178.00 at BNP Paribas Exane

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Exane raised Blackstone's price target from $166.00 to $178.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating, indicating a potential upside of 1.53% from its current price.
• Nine analysts have rated Blackstone as a Buy, while another nine have given it a Hold, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $172.71.
• Blackstone's latest earnings report revealed a profit of $1.21 per share, surpassing estimates, and a revenue of $3.07 billion, which is a 32.7% increase compared to the previous year.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from $166.00 to $178.00 in a report issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the asset manager's stock. BNP Paribas Exane's price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.53% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BX. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.71.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $175.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $129.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $174.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.01.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm 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 company's 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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