Blackstone (NYSE:BX) PT Raised to $135.00 at Argus

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Argus from $133.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Argus’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.52% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Blackstone from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BX opened at $123.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $126.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.56, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. 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 has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $708,859,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after buying an additional 3,597,828 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $290,514,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 43.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,877,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,833,000 after buying an additional 2,098,150 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.