Quick Read
Blackstone’s (BX) 4.24% screener yield is misleading, as payouts swing from $1.03 to $1.49 per share depending on quarterly distributable earnings.
Apollo (APO) pays a flat $0.5625 quarterly and KKR pays $0.195, both choosing predictability over Blackstone’s higher but variable payouts.
Schwarzman called BX ‘on sale’ after shares fell 31% over the past year, but the stock only suits investors who can tolerate income variability.
Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and Blackstone didn’t make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat BX. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
An income investor pulling up Blackstone (NYSE:BX) on a screener sees a clean-looking number: a trailing yield of 4.24% on a $5.23 trailing dividend. That figure is real. As a forward expectation, it is misleading. Blackstone does not pay a fixed quarterly dividend, and the payout that actually arrives depends on what the firm earns in cash that quarter.
How the Payout Actually Works
Blackstone’s policy is to distribute roughly 85% of Distributable Earnings each quarter. On the Q2 2026 call, management framed it as returning “100% over time of our cash earnings back in the form of our dividend”, alongside “a more moderate but consistent buyback program.” Distributable Earnings move with fee-related earnings, realized performance revenues, and asset sales. Realizations are inherently lumpy. So is the dividend.
The payment record shows it. Recent per-share dividends: $1.29 in August 2026, $1.16 in May 2026, $1.49 in February 2026, $1.29 in November 2025, and $1.03 in August 2025. The early-calendar-year payment has been the largest in every complete year from 2022 through 2025, reflecting Q4 crystallizations flowing through in February. A buyer who annualizes that February check is setting up for disappointment (we cataloged the seven warning signs of a misleading headline yield in a free dividend traps report).
Free Report, Just Released
Why Didn’t BX Make The Top 10 List?
24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now.
And BX didn’t make the cut!
The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today.
Enter Your Email and See the Ten →
