Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BX. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.71.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $124.13 on Monday. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.21 billion, a PE ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 19,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,233.72. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired 10,252,345 shares of company stock worth $209,789,893 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $1,275,747,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Blackstone by 99.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,690,000 after purchasing an additional 3,178,133 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $164,597,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,709,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $417,620,000 after buying an additional 1,249,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Blackstone by 476.1% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,324,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $204,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094,307 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Blackstone

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.