Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.43 EPS

Key Points

• Blackstone reported $0.83 in quarterly EPS, missing the $1.26 consensus estimate by $0.43. Revenue totaled $3.06 billion, below the $3.27 billion forecast and down 0.8% year over year.
• Shares opened at $109.42, near the lower end of their 52-week range, while analysts maintained a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $143.35.
• Insiders sold substantially more shares than they purchased over the past 90 days, including a major shareholder’s sale of 3.77 million shares and an insider’s sale of 45,000 shares.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.43), Briefing.com reports. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $109.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $126.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.11. The stock has a market cap of $82.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.59. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $165.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on Blackstone from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Blackstone from a "market outperform" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $143.35.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,911,260.87. This trade represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 3,767,776 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.94, for a total value of $11,077,261.44. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,392.80. This represents a 99.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 464,792 shares of company stock valued at $12,205,945 and have sold 4,077,276 shares valued at $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment and advisory services to institutional investors, companies, and qualified individual investors. The company manages capital across private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, secondaries, and growth-oriented investments.

Blackstone invests in and manages portfolios of businesses, properties, infrastructure assets, and credit instruments across a range of industries.

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