Dbs Bank Upgrades Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to "Moderate Buy"

Key Points

• Dbs Bank has upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating, signaling positive sentiment among analysts regarding the company's prospects.
• Analysts have varied target price adjustments for Blackstone, with Barclays and Deutsche Bank raising their targets to $181.00 and $192.00, respectively, while Morgan Stanley reduced its target to $150.00.
• Blackstone reported a quarterly EPS of $1.21, exceeding estimates, and achieved a year-over-year revenue increase of 32.7% to $3.07 billion.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Dbs Bank to a "moderate buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. 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 note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price 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. Finally, 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $174.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $128.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.98, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $158.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.21.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 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 analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 1,189,532 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $27,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. 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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