Blackstone (NYSE:BX) PT Lowered to $146.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Piper Sandler from $150.00 to $146.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet lowered Blackstone from a b rating to a c+ rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $119.75.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $5.90 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $126.10. The company had a trading volume of 3,339,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,680,810. The company has a market capitalization of $90.12 billion, a PE ratio of 69.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $126.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.03.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.48 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 763.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 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.