Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $114.00 at TD Cowen

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective cut by TD Cowen from $117.00 to $114.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down from $129.00) on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $118.92.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $118.40 on Friday. Blackstone has a one year low of $79.92 and a one year high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now 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. Insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

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.