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. The real estate segment specializes in opportunistic, core+ investments as well as debt investment opportunities collateralized by commercial real estate, and stabilized income-oriented commercial real estate across North America, Europe and Asia. The firm's corporate private equity business pursues transactions throughout the world across a variety of transaction types, including large buyouts,special situations, distressed mortgage loans, mid-cap buyouts, buy and build platforms, which involves multiple acquisitions behind a single management team and platform, and growth equity/development projects involving significant majority stakes in portfolio companies and minority investments in operating companies, shipping, real estate, corporate or consumer loans, and alternative energy greenfield development projects in energy and power, property, dislocated markets, shipping opportunities, financial institution breakups, re-insurance, and improving freight mobility, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, enterprise tech and consumer, as well as consumer technologies. The fund considers investment in Asia and Latin America. It has a three year investment period. Its hedge fund business manages a broad range of commingled and customized fund solutions and its credit business focuses on loans, and securities of non-investment grade companies spread across the capital structure including senior debt, subordinated debt, preferred stock and common equity. Blackstone Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, New York with additional offices across Asia, Europe and North America.
Blackstone Stock Performance
BX opened at $107.34 on Friday. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $86.97 and a 52-week high of $149.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $75.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.44. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $97.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.78.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 21st. The asset manager reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 22.48% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 96.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Blackstone Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 1st were issued a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 29th. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.73%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.70%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $147.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $124.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone to $102.00 in a research note on Friday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Blackstone from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.36.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 4,236 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.11, for a total value of $424,065.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,311,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,310,582.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 4,236 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.11, for a total value of $424,065.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,311,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,310,582.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 71,223 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.95, for a total value of $6,691,400.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,141,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $107,287,611.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 205,954 shares of company stock worth $11,578,255. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
