Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $100.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $122.94.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $122.09 on Friday. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.82 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,102.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total value of $27,853,407.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown purchased 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $125.62 per share, for a total transaction of $301,488.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 16,949 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,133.38. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after acquiring an additional 880,745 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,738,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,417,140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,581 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 13.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Blackstone by 43.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $736,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $841,783,000 after acquiring an additional 322,860 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.