Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $180.00

Key Points

• Research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods have raised the price target for Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00, indicating a potential upside from its previous close.
• Blackstone's stock has shown significant performance, with a recent increase of 3.5% and an impressive 32.7% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the same period last year.
• Insiders have recently engaged in significant trading activities, with Blackstone itself buying over 1.18 million shares, highlighting strong confidence in the company’s prospects.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $168.00 to $180.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "market perform" rating on the asset manager's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective points to a potential upside of 1.14% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on BX. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $165.18.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $177.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $148.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.63. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after buying an additional 444,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,707,000 after buying an additional 681,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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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