Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.11 EPS

Key Points

• Blackstone reported earnings of $1.21 per share, surpassing expectations by $0.11, with a significant quarterly revenue of $3.07 billion, up 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $1.03 per share, reflecting a 10.8% boost from the previous dividend, with a current yield of 2.32%.
• Analyst price targets have been raised, with Evercore ISI setting a new target of $197, indicating a positive outlook on Blackstone's stock performance.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11, Zacks reports. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $177.96 on Friday. Blackstone has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $149.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $129.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.65.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.05%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 237 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $136.33 per share, for a total transaction of $32,310.21. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 37,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,344.11. This trade represents a 0.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 2,849,769 shares of company stock valued at $54,932,307 in the last ninety days. Company 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 boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 34.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring 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 SEC filing. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Blackstone from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $168.71.

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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