Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $172.38.

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $160.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $115.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.19, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $1.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by 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.