Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target Lowered to $119.00 at Barclays

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target cut by Barclays from $124.00 to $119.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Argus cut their price objective on Blackstone from $163.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, HSBC cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.00.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX opened at $121.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.98. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a market capitalization of $90.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 118.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the acquisition, the director owned 41,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,286.72. This represents a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Family CFO Inc bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.