Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Reaches New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)’s share price hit a new 52-week low on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $160.00 to $139.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Blackstone traded as low as $115.66 and last traded at $122.75, with a volume of 4976167 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.04.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $186.00 to $129.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $2,102,000. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 214.2% in the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 22,303 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after buying an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,053,000 after buying an additional 4,688 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,894,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,533,972,000 after buying an additional 889,286 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 909,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $139,302,000 after purchasing an additional 51,897 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $87.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.35.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.81%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

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.