Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Barclays

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reissued by Barclays in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $125.00 target price on the asset manager's stock, down from their previous target price of $129.00. Barclays's target price would indicate a potential upside of 5.57% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on BX. TheStreet downgraded shares of Blackstone from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer lowered Blackstone from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. 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 report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $118.92.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BX traded down $1.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $118.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,161,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,727,804. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its position in Blackstone by 56.1% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,255 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in Blackstone by 34.2% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 8,441 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,072,000 after buying an additional 2,153 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.4% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,392,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 18,446 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,341,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its position in Blackstone by 12.8% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 38,429 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 4,366 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.