TD Cowen Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $164.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price objective lowered by TD Cowen from $183.00 to $164.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,MarketScreener reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BX. UBS Group set a $171.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore dropped their price target on Blackstone from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $129.93 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.13 and its 200 day moving average is $158.01. Blackstone has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $95.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 20.89%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 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 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $1.49 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $5.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 153.61%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone purchased 384,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.01 per share, with a total value of $10,000,012.68. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 16,525,117 shares in the company, valued at $429,818,293.17. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Arcus Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 2,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.