Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.19 EPS

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19, Zacks reports. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $7.92 during trading on Thursday, hitting $177.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,544,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,827,033. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.82 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.53.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.56.

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.