Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Downgraded to Equal Weight Rating by Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Blackstone (NYSE:BX) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $195.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous target price of $188.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on BX. Barclays increased their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America raised their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.69.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $190.29 on Thursday. Blackstone has a 12-month low of $112.44 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $137.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.70.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 118.21%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,020,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,597,028,000 after buying an additional 348,751 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,896,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,272,227,000 after purchasing an additional 336,308 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after buying an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.