Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC)’s Merrill Lynch division analysts upgraded shares of The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note to investors on Monday.
The Blackstone Group L.P. (Blackstone) is a manager of private capital and provider of financial advisory services. The Company is an independent manager of private capital with assets under management of $98.2 billion, as of December 31, 2009. Blackstone provides a range of financial advisory services, including corporate and mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and reorganization and fund placement services. The Company operates in four segments: Private Equity, Real Estate, Credit and Marketable Alternatives, which consists of its management of funds of hedge funds, credit-oriented funds and separately managed accounts, CLOs and publicly-traded closed-end mutual funds, and Financial Advisory, which consists of its corporate and mergers and acquisitions advisory services, restructuring and reorganization advisory services and Park Hill Group, which provides fund placement services for alternative investment funds.
Shares of BX traded up 4.00% hitting $11.70 during mid-day trading on Monday.
