BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Price

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $134.00 to $157.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would suggest a potential downside of 7.57% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $188.00 to $195.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $166.13.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX traded down $1.85 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $169.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,474,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,400,438. The company has a market cap of $122.63 billion, a PE ratio of 58.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $114.88 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business has a 50 day moving average of $178.07 and a 200-day moving average of $150.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during 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, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,272,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336,308 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $775,758,000 after purchasing an additional 141,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $6,433,220,000 after buying an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.