Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Given New $165.00 Price Target at Citizens Jmp

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its target price cut by Citizens Jmp from $190.00 to $165.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market outperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.00.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE:BX opened at $121.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Blackstone has a one year low of $101.73 and a one year high of $190.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.98.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. This trade represents a 0.86% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Blackstone by 3.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,538,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,326,762,000 after purchasing an additional 384,264 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $1,275,747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blackstone and TPG are reportedly trying to sell Hologic’s surgical unit for more than $4 billion, a sign of continued private-equity deal activity that could support fee-related earnings and investment returns. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays is preparing an about $875 million debt sale to help finance Blackstone’s senior takeover, highlighting continued transaction momentum around the firm’s private credit and buyout activity. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP lowered its price target on Blackstone to $165 from $190 but kept an “outperform” view, which still implies meaningful upside and may have helped support sentiment. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays also cut its price target to $119 from $124 and maintained an “equal weight” rating, signaling more cautious near-term expectations. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles were mostly valuation- or comparison-based pieces about BX, which are less likely to drive the stock on their own. Zacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Blackstone was linked to an AI infrastructure financing structure in which Apollo and Blackstone reportedly shifted Broadcom and Anthropic’s AI chip bet into debt held by other investors, which may raise questions about risk transfer and financing complexity. MSN article

Blackstone Company Profile

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.