Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Upgraded to “Hold” at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Blackstone from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.84.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:BX opened at $151.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.18, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $192.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $150.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,610. This represents a 99.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have bought a total of 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.2% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 13,243 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,275,282 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $178,245,000 after buying an additional 19,803 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 77.2% in the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 617,382 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $84,689,000 after acquiring an additional 268,965 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 5.2% in the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 63,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,094,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

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.