Brokerages Set Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Target Price at $155.38

Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $155.38.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after buying an additional 34,872 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 936.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,383 shares during the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $557,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,364,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $176.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $96.15 and a 1-year high of $178.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $155.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.33.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.