Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $180.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $195.00 to $180.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $192.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.56.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE BX opened at $169.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $122.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.17, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. Blackstone has a one year low of $114.88 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.59.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BX. Sather Financial Group Inc increased its position in Blackstone by 202.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.