Bank of America Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lowered by Bank of America from $219.00 to $207.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.06.

Blackstone Stock Down 6.3 %

Shares of BX opened at $124.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $115.82 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $156.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.20.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 158.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the purchase, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 214.2% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,053,000 after buying an additional 4,688 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,533,972,000 after acquiring an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $139,302,000 after acquiring an additional 51,897 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is 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.