3,973 Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Bought by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,973 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $555,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $170.30 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $153.23 and a 200-day moving average of $150.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $124.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

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.

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