Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Declares Dividend Increase - $1.03 Per Share

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of 1.03 per share by the asset manager on Monday, August 11th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. This is a 10.8% increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93.

Blackstone has a dividend payout ratio of 58.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Blackstone to earn $7.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.1%.

Blackstone Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $6.50 on Thursday, reaching $178.46. The company had a trading volume of 2,083,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,292,547. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $147.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $150.61. The firm has a market cap of $130.21 billion, a PE ratio of 53.75, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.65. Blackstone has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $152.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. 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.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $162.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone bought 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, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the transaction, the director owned 37,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,053,344.11. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Blackstone stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 34.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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