Blackstone (BX) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) will be issuing its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, April 18th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.00 per share for the quarter. Parties that wish to register for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The asset manager reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.16. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 EPS. On average, analysts expect Blackstone to post $5 EPS for the current fiscal year and $6 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.9 %

BX opened at $121.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.50. Blackstone has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56. The company has a market capitalization of $86.60 billion, a PE ratio of 66.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 205.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $120.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.92.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $46,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 826.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $77,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.