Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target boosted by analysts at Piper Sandler from $140.00 to $157.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.21% from the stock’s current price.

BX has been the subject of a number of other reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.65.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $155.13 on Wednesday. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.62. The company has a market capitalization of $113.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,005. The trade was a 24,898.76% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,341,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,637,266,000 after purchasing an additional 444,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,016,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,209,707,000 after purchasing an additional 681,512 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,987,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,032,400,000 after purchasing an additional 371,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $974,448,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.