Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $154.22 and traded as high as $173.59. Blackstone shares last traded at $172.42, with a volume of 2,181,175 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.8 %

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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $180.24 and its 200-day moving average is $154.35. The firm has a market cap of $125.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 213.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after purchasing an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 468.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after buying an additional 912,685 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $67,472,000. 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.