Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Deutsche Bank from $50.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Thursday, BenzingaRatingsTable reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Deutsche Bank’s target price indicates a potential downside of 1.43% from the company’s current price.
BX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer lowered Blackstone Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. ValuEngine cut Blackstone Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Co lifted their price target on Blackstone Group from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. S&P Equity Research lowered Blackstone Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $57.00) on shares of Blackstone Group in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Blackstone Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.13.
BX stock opened at $55.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.44. Blackstone Group has a 52-week low of $27.88 and a 52-week high of $55.97. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.02.
Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Blackstone Group had a net margin of 27.05% and a return on equity of 7.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Group will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
In other news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 6,864,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.54, for a total value of $243,965,929.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Hamilton E. James sold 108,103 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.56, for a total value of $5,681,893.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,608,103 shares of company stock worth $311,151,291 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Group by 127.5% in the 2nd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,212,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $720,137,000 after buying an additional 9,085,152 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $234,576,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone Group by 2,994.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,099,714 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $200,230,000 after acquiring an additional 3,967,214 shares in the last quarter. Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. raised its position in Blackstone Group by 9.3% during the second quarter. Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. now owns 4,071,855 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $180,872,000 after acquiring an additional 346,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Blackstone Group by 16.4% in the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,885,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $172,616,000 after acquiring an additional 546,418 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.38% of the company’s stock.
Blackstone Group Company Profile
The Blackstone Group L.P. is a publicly owned alternative asset manager. The firm also provides capital markets services to its clients. It provides its services to public and corporate pension funds, academic, cultural, and charitable organizations, retirees, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional and individual investors.
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