The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $118.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $158.00 to $118.00 in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.82% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $126.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $167.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.38.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.3%

Blackstone stock opened at $112.58 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $119.40 and a 200-day moving average of $142.41. Blackstone has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $83.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at $90,670.32. This trade represents a 99.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $15,961,420.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jain Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $9,116,000. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 1,270,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $217,083,000 after purchasing an additional 24,237 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 840,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $143,582,000 after purchasing an additional 142,479 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16,035.1% during the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,140,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 346,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $58,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Blackstone

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone closed its flagship opportunistic credit vehicle, Blackstone Capital Opportunities Fund V (COF V), at a hard cap of over $10 billion — an oversubscribed raise that underscores strong investor demand for Blackstone’s private credit strategy and supports future fee revenue and AUM growth. Blackstone Closes Flagship Opportunistic Credit Fund
• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone is part of a consortium (with Tinicum) that agreed to acquire UK aerospace supplier Senior Plc for about £1.4B — a completed deal that reflects continued dealflow and demonstrates Blackstone’s ability to deploy capital into negotiated buyouts. Senior Plc takeover
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyses argue that recent valuation compression has masked Blackstone’s underlying earnings power and fee-generating capacity — a reminder that fundamentals (earnings, AUM growth) may be less impaired than the share price implies. Seeking Alpha analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Post-Q4 coverage (buy/sell/hold pieces) is re-evaluating BX after solid Q4 results (beating EPS and revenue estimates); these pieces provide context but haven’t swung consensus decisively. Yahoo: Buy, Sell, or Hold Post Q4
• Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler cut its price target to $122 and moved to a “neutral” rating, signaling more cautious near-term expectations and reducing upside expectations from current levels. Piper Sandler price target cut
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs trimmed its target to $118 and kept a “neutral” rating, another large broker lowering implied fair value and weighing on sentiment. Goldman Sachs price target cut
• Negative Sentiment: Market pieces note that shares “stumbled” on closing-related items and continued investor wariness; coupled with the multi-month drop, sentiment remains fragile and leaves BX vulnerable to further downgrades or volatility. Baystreet: Shares stumble

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.