Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Increased to $145.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $145.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the asset manager's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price indicates a potential upside of 20.55% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BX. Bank of America increased their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet cut Blackstone from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $118.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $119.97.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded down $2.91 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $120.28. 5,701,696 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,722,024. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $85.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.73, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $126.66 and a 200-day moving average of $117.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $8,244,379,000 after purchasing an additional 880,745 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Blackstone by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,417,140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,581 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,668,954,000 after acquiring an additional 798,734 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,419,249,000 after acquiring an additional 332,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.