Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $127.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

27 Jan 2024, 23:42 by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat Gem

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $123.00 to $127.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Blackstone from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $116.69.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Blackstone

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded up $1.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $124.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,715,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,308,664. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $119.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.91. Blackstone has a one year low of $76.19 and a one year high of $133.53. The company has a market cap of $88.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.19%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 2nd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 174.86%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total value of $705,155.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,781 shares in the company, valued at $6,126,002.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 29,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.39, for a total transaction of $2,762,461.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 424,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,253,092.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total transaction of $705,155.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,126,002.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 96,256.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $429,634,000 after purchasing an additional 5,784,986 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 98,060.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 4,908,037 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $456,300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,903,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 13,816.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,623,868 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,744,370,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597,828 shares during the last quarter. 63.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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