Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $174.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $175.00 to $174.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 6.23% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on BX. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their target price on Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $163.80. 1,161,001 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,469,949. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $114.88 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $118.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.29, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $180.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.98.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,597,028,000 after acquiring an additional 348,751 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after purchasing an additional 141,616 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 15,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.