JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Price Target to $100.00

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) had its price target reduced by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 16.86% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on BX. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $115.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.19.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $120.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $79.92 and a 52-week high of $133.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $126.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 17.30%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 216 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.