Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Raised to $152.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $143.00 to $152.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 25.45% from the stock’s current price.

BX has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $156.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research cut Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, HSBC cut their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.36.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $121.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.63. Blackstone has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,670.32. This represents a 99.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 2,868,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $487,129,914.25. This represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,103,660 shares of company stock worth $45,982,920. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.