Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.44

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.44 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86.

Blackstone has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 1.1% per year over the last three years. Blackstone has a payout ratio of 82.9% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities 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 Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of BX opened at $170.11 on Friday. Blackstone has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $178.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $163.48. The stock has a market cap of $122.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.