Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.93

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.93 per share by the asset manager on Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%.

Blackstone has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 1.1% annually over the last three years. Blackstone has a dividend payout ratio of 84.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Blackstone to earn $7.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.7%.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:BX traded up $2.63 on Thursday, reaching $132.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,906,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,715,408. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $146.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.07. The firm has a market cap of $96.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.34, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Blackstone stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 34.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Blackstone from $182.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.72.

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.