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

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%.

Blackstone has raised its dividend payment 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 payout ratio of 61.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Blackstone to earn $6.15 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 61.1%.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.4 %

BX stock traded down $2.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $120.28. 5,701,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,722,024. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $85.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $126.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.66. Blackstone has a 1-year low of $79.92 and a 1-year high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. Blackstone's revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $118.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Blackstone from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.97.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $510,355,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 96,256.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,790,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $429,634,000 after acquiring an additional 5,784,986 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,647,047 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $477,471,000 after acquiring an additional 973,598 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,972,648 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,244,379,000 after acquiring an additional 880,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,085,890 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $796,765,000 after acquiring an additional 839,885 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

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.