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

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis 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 by an average of 1.1% per year over the last three years. Blackstone has a payout ratio of 82.9% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. 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 Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $170.11 on Friday. Blackstone has a twelve month low of $115.82 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $122.82 billion, a PE ratio of 46.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.48.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Blackstone from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.