Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.44 Per Share

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is a boost 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 dividend 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 tumble. Research analysts expect Blackstone to earn $7.08 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 81.4%.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $170.11 on Friday. Blackstone has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $178.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $163.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $122.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.86, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone 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.