Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $215.00 at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has raised its price target for Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.58% from the stock's previous close.
• Blackstone's consensus rating is currently "Moderate Buy," with a majority of analysts giving it a Buy or Strong Buy rating.
• Insiders at Blackstone have recently engaged in significant transactions, with one selling over 50,000 shares and a major shareholder increasing their stake by over 2.5 million shares.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $200.00 to $215.00 in a report released on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the asset manager's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target indicates a potential upside of 33.58% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $183.68.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $160.95 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $118.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 5.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,462 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $205,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 5.9% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 331,260 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $46,304,000 after acquiring an additional 18,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 83.4% in the first quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,971 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,534,000 after purchasing an additional 4,990 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

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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