Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Cut to $171.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $172.00 to $171.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.89.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $157.76 on Friday. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $116.50 billion, a PE ratio of 45.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $149.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,741,192.84. This trade represents a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone bought 384,468 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.01 per share, for a total transaction of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. This represents a 2.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $1,071,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 31.9% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,803,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,902,000 after purchasing an additional 919,773 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.