Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to Equal Weight

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Thursday,Finviz reports. They presently have a $195.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $188.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 1.32% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lowered Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.69.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $192.46 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $173.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.10. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $112.09 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.95 billion, a PE ratio of 66.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % 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, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BX. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 202.5% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 6,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,050 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter worth $1,951,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 2,185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 18,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.