Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC grew its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 411.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 314,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 252,868 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $36,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Palladiem LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.43.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $142.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $107.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $130.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.86.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This trade represents a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.