Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $102.70.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BX. TheStreet cut shares of Blackstone from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Blackstone in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $86.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $111.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III bought 27,082 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $47.11 per share, for a total transaction of $1,275,833.02. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 18,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $873,183.85. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 85,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.32, for a total transaction of $7,337,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,145,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $98,875,071.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III acquired 27,082 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $47.11 per share, for a total transaction of $1,275,833.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $873,183.85. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 10,950,343 shares of company stock valued at $18,741,735 and sold 140,632,216 shares valued at $1,725,831,950. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp lifted its stake in Blackstone by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp now owns 4,493 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% in the first quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 6,829 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. RKL Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 7,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.39% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $83.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $84.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $58.98 billion, a PE ratio of 101.87, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $71.72 and a 52-week high of $123.18.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 18.51%. The firm’s revenue was down 73.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 400.00%.

About Blackstone

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Blackstone, Inc engages in the provision of investment and fund management services. It operates through the following segments: Real Estate, Private Equity, Credit and Insurance, and Hedge Fund Solutions. The Real Estate segment includes management of opportunistic real estate funds, Core+ real estate funds, high-yield real estate debt funds, and liquid real estate debt funds.