Blackstone Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.83 (NYSE:BX)

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.83 per share by the asset manager on Monday, May 6th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th.

Blackstone has increased its dividend by an average of 20.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Blackstone has a dividend payout ratio of 61.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Blackstone to earn $6.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.1%.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $123.77 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $126.21 and its 200-day moving average is $118.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 982,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on Blackstone from $141.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.65.

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.